Sanctuary
by xSummersx
Summary: Dante and Claire's relationship is put to the test after she is attacked by a demon, which leads her to discover that Dante is half-demon. And when Vergil shows up after 4 years, it only leads to more trouble plus discovering Claire has hidden powers.
1. Unexpected Yet Inevitable

**Hello all!**

**This is an Alternate Universe story about Devil May Cry. You will notice that the name of the guy is Devin but I want you all to know that this is Dante and his name will change back to that eventually because like I said in the summary he is trying to keep who he really is from Claire.**

**Claire is a person who isn't at all related to DMC. Like I stated this is an Alternate Universe story with a changed plot but all the other DMC characters are the same as in the games.**

**Just needed to patch that up. If there are any more questions please let me know!**

**Thanks and hope you all enjoy :-D **===================================================================

"Sorry, I took so long."

She turned to see that Devin had finally made it. He sat down next to her and she leaned into him.

"It's okay. I didn't mind."

He smiled.

"Here."

She looked up and he positioned her so that she was leaning back against his chest in between his legs. He put one on the ground to stay sitting up and the other he put around her before reaching down and kissing her neck softly.

"Hope you didn't have to wait too long," he whispered.

She looked up to see him smiling down at her.

"I really don't mind. You're worth it."

With that he reached down and tilted her face up and kissed her passionately, momentarily leaning forward so he could use his other hand to hold her cheek. When they broke apart she reached up and held his cheek.

"I love you."

He smiled and whispered the words back. They were spared having to say anything else when they looked up to see that the meteor shower had started. It was a brilliant display. All the colors of the rainbow were displayed as the meteors shot across the sky leaving swirls and lines of light where they had been that slowly faded moments later. The wonderful display only lasted about ten minutes before the meteors stopped falling, only leaving their colorful trails of light in the sky for a few moments before the whole scene faded. The stars came back out to dominate the sky once again, with the moon continuing to rise in the eastern sky.

"That was beautiful," she breathed out a sigh.

He bent his head down and nudged hers with a smile.

"Well I hope you enjoyed. It's not happening again in our lifetime."

She smiled at his contact and then looked up at him only to have him capture her lips almost instantly. The kiss was gentle at first until he felt her kiss him back. He took that notion and deepened it, leaning into her until he had her back to the ground. He broke the kiss for a moment to catch some air before pressing his lips back to hers. He trailed a hand to her side and then another he put behind her neck to pull her as close as he could. She sighed into him and trailed her hands down his toned muscles and felt them flutter at her touch. She felt his mouth form into a smile and he let out a soft moan of pleasure. She broke the kiss and her eyes looked past him just in time to see one last shooting star fall in the sky.

"A shooting star…quick," she looked back to him. "You better make a wish."

He gave a quick laugh and touched his forehead to hers briefly.

"We just sat through ten minutes of shooting stars. I already made my wish."

She smiled up at him with a curious glance.

"And what would that be?"

"Well you know if you tell people it doesn't come true."

She studied him for a moment but he spoke first.

"But mine already came true."

He gave her another quick kiss and then got up off her, took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

They had watched the meteor shower from their favorite spot on the lake. It was a high hill, basically a cliff, that overlooked the entire lake and you could even see some of the town from where they were. She walked over to the edge and looked out over the lake that had the moonlight casting shimmers across the water. Devin headed up to her and put his arm around her waist and she lent her head on his shoulder.

"Well I guess we should be heading back now, huh?" he gave her a slight squeeze.

She let out a small sigh and looked up at him, giving a small nod.

The silence was sharply interrupted suddenly when the ground next to them exploded, throwing the girl out of Devin's embrace and over the cliff.

She let out a sharp scream as her vision blurred momentarily as the world spun about her. Devin jumped to his feet and looked down at her falling form.

"No, Claire!" he said quickly.

For a moment his world stood still as a complicated problem arose to him.

_'She'll know...'_

He hesitated before jumping over the cliff, diving down towards me.

"But I won't let her die!" he shouted in conclusion.

The moment he about reached her, she was suddenly lifted back up into the sky and he grabbed the cliff and eventually came to the stop. Shooting his eyes up he saw that she was in the clutches of a demon.

"What!" he shouted.

It had been 4 years since he had seen any demons resurface; matter of fact he thought he had taken care of them and forever sealed away their chances of coming back into the living world.

She opened her eyes and focused them to see what was holding her and she let out an ear-piercing scream as terror gripped at her frame. Never before in her life had she seen anything like it; ugly, horrible, terrifying; a real life monster.

"You have an annoying scream little girl," the thing said in a deeply horrifying voice.

He brought up his arm and sent it down at her and her eyes fell upon the razor sharp claws that were going to slice her open.

The monster then let out an agonizing yell and Claire saw blood shoot up from its stomach followed by the appearance of a very large sword. She flew out of its clutches but didn't fall much, as she was soon in someone else's arms and back on the ground looking up at the demon as it lurched forward in the sky, holding its bloody wound.

She brought her eyes up to her new captor and immediately gasped to see herself looking at Devin, though it was a completely different Devin. He had filled out, his muscles were a little bit bigger and more defined but that wasn't even close to what got her. He was glowing in a deep red aura and his eyes had changed to an piercing ice blue and his hair had grown a little and was pure white with a platinum shine.

"Devin…" she breathed out, unsure if she could talk due to what she was seeing. "…wh—"

He looked down at her and she froze to his gaze and felt her heart thumping louder. He set her down and moved in front of her protectively.

"Stay here."

His voice had also changed. It was low, huskier, and a little deeper. She then brought herself back to whatever the hell was going on when she heard the monster from above let out a horrid screech. She covered her ears and then saw Devin raise up that long sword he had before jumping up into the sky straight at the hellish being. In one swift movement, he sliced the sword down through the creature before the monster's cut burst with blood spurting out everywhere.

The being fell limp as it drifted down over the cliff with the waterfall of blood staying around it. Her eyes were cast back to Devin, who landed on the edge of the cliff and dropped his sword to his side and then turned back to her.

Just like last time, once he bore his glance into her, she felt her heart speed up and her breath hitch in her throat. But she had little time to return the gaze. Everything that had happened, suddenly hit her at once, and her mind started spinning. Her vision became blurry and she stumbled forward and felt herself falling.

She was immediately embraced by two strong arms and felt herself being slowly lowered to the ground.

"…Claire," his new voice said her name in concern. "…are you all right?"

"…Devin…"

She felt her head go forward and the blackness took over as well as the silence.

While she was still out, Devin called his parents and told them to meet him out on the ledge by the lake. With his parents on the way Devin had time alone with his girlfriend to think about what would be done. He ran a hand through his hair and gently lowered her down to the ground before sitting down beside her while he waged a self-debate in his head. He gave a sigh and looked down at her sleeping face. The decision he came to was that he was going to stay in his current form when she woke up. He couldn't say how, but he had a feeling that it would just be better that way.

He brought his hand to her face and gently stroked her cheek before bending down and kissing her forehead softly.

"Devin!"

He turned and stood only to be quickly embraced by his mother.

"I'm fine mom," he said and pulled away from her gently.

She looked him over.

"Why are you in your demi form?" she said and looked him over.

Before he responded he caught sight of Andrew walking towards them.

"There was a demon here tonight," he said when he reached them. "Wasn't there."

It was then that Eva saw Claire lying past her son and she rushed down to her.

"What happened to her? Is she all right?" he looked up at Devin.

"She's fine. She just passed out from everything that happened."

"Well then," Andrew clapped his hands together. "What did happen?"

Devin returned back to her side and knelt down beside her as he retold the story of the night.

"We were watching the meteor shower and then we headed to the cliff for a while and were gonna go home but then there came an explosion and she was thrown over the cliff. I dove after her but then the demon appeared and got to her before I could and—"

"You said the demon didn't hurt her," Eva interrupted her son quickly.

He put his hand up and stopped her.

"That's when I used some of my devil trigger and summoned my sword and killed the bastard," he said with a little distaste.

"She saw the demon then?" his mom asked.

"She saw everything; the demon and me in this form."

"So what are you going to do?" Andrew asked.

He looked back down at Claire and moved a strand of hair away from her face.

"I'm going to tell her."

"Tell her?" Andrew repeated with subtle amusement under the question.

"Everything," he finished. "There's no point not to now."

Eva looked on in concern for her son's decision and then looked to Andrew for a response. Andrew crossed his arms and looked up at the full moon.

"More importantly…is the fact that a demon has made an appearance."

"Yes, that is true," Eva stood up. "It's been 4 years and your father sealed the door to Hell."

Right then Claire made a small noise and all of them immediately shot their eyes to her. Devin moved over and got down close to her and pulled her into his lap.

"…Claire," he said gently.

Her eyelids fluttered a little before she opened them just a little bit and moved around her body as a natural instinct when just waking up. She found her movements to be a little limited and she opened her eyes fully, but slowly, to see Andrew and Eva looking down at her in concern.

"…what is…"

She let the sentence trail off and looked around her to see two arms holding her and she looked up to once again see the different Devin. When her eyes fell upon his she just kept staring at him, looking him over and taking in the new appearance. He had to admit he was a little uneasy with her looking him over like she was while not saying anything.

"…are you…Devin?" she finally asked softly.

"Yes…Claire…it's me."

Her ears recognized the difference in his voice and parts of her memory were coming back from before she passed out. Slowly, she reached up a wavering hand and put it to his cheek and she felt him shiver at her touch.

"…you look so different. What's happened to you?" she asked quietly.

He didn't know what to say at the moment. All he did was place his hand over hers and grip it tightly. He knew that there was no turning back since it had come this far. Her eyes then flew open and she quickly looked all about her before getting to her feet.

"…where's that monster?" she said, fear and panic evident in her voice and actions.

Suddenly all her memories came back and all she could think about was how terrified she had been. Never before in her life had she ever been that scared and in the process she seemingly forgot that Devin had killed it.

"…Claire," he said quickly, trying to get a hold of her and calm her down. "It's okay…the demon is gone."

"Demon?" I looked at him in confusion as she stumbled about, uneasy on her feet.

She finally miss-stepped and ended up falling only to once again have Devin catch her safely in his arms.

"Take it easy…you're still pretty drained from what happened," he said as gently as he could.

"…what did happen?" she asked quietly.

"Claire."

She turned when she heard Eva say her name.

"We need to talk," Andrew finished for her.

The story they told her was completely insane. To be honest she didn't believe them at first. The only thing that made her second-guess it was that she had experienced the creatures they were talking about first hand. Also, it was coming from her boyfriend's family and she trusted them with her life on anything. The part that finally got her to interrupt them was when they mentioned the word half-demon and Devin in the same sentence.

"Wait…what did you say?" she stared at Andrew after the words left him.

This comment made Devin shift uncomfortably for a moment. This was the part he had been dreading the most.

"Devin is a half-demon, Claire," he repeated slowly and with much caution.

She moved her mouth to form words but nothing came out. She then looked up at Devin to see him avoiding her glance.

He then weaved her a tale of the king of the underworld, Sparda. He told her how he was the most powerful demon alive and that there ever was. That, even though he was a demon, he fell in love with a human woman and they had two children.

"One of them was Devin," he finished.

"…so your Sparda?" she turned to Andrew.

"No. I'm not related to Devin in any way. I was sent by Sparda to watch over his wife and son."

She then turned to Eva as she began to put the pieces together.

"You're the woman then?" she asked.

She nodded. Claire then felt Devin start to release her and she panicked.

"No…don't!" she said quickly and gripped him, much to his shock.

"…but Claire…aren't you mad…scared at all?"

"…I'm a bit confused…but how could I be mad?"

"Claire I've been lying to you for so long…not to mention half of me is no different than that creature that tried to kill you!"

The sentence itself was hard to say for him and he braced for her to have her inevitable realization.

"…but you **are** different, Devin. I know that," came her soft response.

He stared at her in surprise and so did Andrew and Eva.

"I trust you with my life Devin," she then laid her head to rest against his chest. "And I know you would never hurt me."

She felt very tired at the moment but smiled nonetheless when she felt him wrap his firm arms around her and cradle her close.

"Thank you," he whispered sincerely. "I love you so much Claire."

"I love you too," she said quietly.

Andrew and Eva both smiled and were eternally grateful for the depth of acceptance and love she showed him even in knowing his secret.

Seeing that she was close to sleep he slowly stood up and held her across his arms as she curled up against him.

"Let's get you to bed?"

She nodded slowly.

"That sounds wonderful."

"Since I'm in my demi-form…well let's just say hold on to me tightly okay?" he smiled down at me.

"You know what?" she said with apparent sleep. "Nothing else can surprise me tonight so just do whatever."

He burst out laughing and nuzzled her head with his.

"Okay. Mom, Andrew…I'll be home just as soon as I take care of this little princess," he turned to them.

"…I hate being called that," she said through a yawn.

They both smiled.

"Okay. Be careful and keep her safe. I know how crazy fast you can be," his mother advised.

Her comment did make her curious about how they were about to travel to her house but she knew that he would take care of her so she was fine with it. Quite suddenly, he jumped up into the air, quickly taking away all her sleepiness with a sound of surprise escaping her. She looked down to see that they had jumped up very far into the air and that they were moving forward rather quickly. He looked down at her after the noise escaped her and held her tighter.

"You alright?"

She looked up at him and she couldn't help but smile at what she was experiencing. It was so cool! She felt as though she was floating. He smiled when he saw her finally smile. He slowly floated back to the ground where he quickly jumped up into the air again. She soon learned that apparently, gravity didn't affect him as much, and that this was his system of travel; yep, Claire loved it. Perhaps what surprised her just as much as his new powers, was that regardless of how fast he was going or how far up in the air they went, he landed as graceful as a feather.

Before she knew it, they had landed on top of her house!

"We're here, little lady," came his new, but gentle voice that she had grown to love.

Actually, in this form, she seemed to be drawn to him more. True he had turned handsomer and more buff, but there was something else about him that made her heart seem to beat faster whenever he looked at her.

He tore her from her thoughts when he hopped up and landed on the balcony of her window. Opening the doors he carried her in to her room and placed her on her bed.

"Wow…nice service," she giggled.

He lifted up her covers and then tucked her in.

"Anything for you," he teased before kneeling down to be at height with her as she stayed propped on her elbows.

"When will I see you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Whenever you like," he said with a grin, putting his elbow on her bed and propping his head up.

"…tomorrow morningish?"

"Sounds good to me."

She studied him for a moment.

"…Could we talk a little more about tonight too?"

He smiled.

"Of course."

"Thank you, Devin. I just have a lot of question…sorry," she looking down.

He put his hand on her cheek and rubbed it cheek with his thumb.

"Like I can really blame you…now," he stood up and gently pushed her back on to the bed. "You should get some rest. I'll come by for you in the morning."

She smiled and it got bigger when he knelt down and pressed his lips to her forehead for a moment, which sent a chill through her.

"Good night…I love you," he whispered.

She whispered the words back and he headed out onto the balcony and leapt out of sight. She fell asleep almost instantly. Unbeknownst to her, though, Devin did not go home. With the sighting of a demon he was uneasy about leaving her unattended so he stayed on top of her house for the night. Because of his half-demon blood, sleep was not a necessity for him, though if he wanted to he could. One thing he was truly grateful for was that Claire still loved him regardless of the demon blood that ran through his veins.

"Truly remarkable," he laughed quietly to himself.

A small smile grazed his lips.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have found her and to have her love a guy like me."

He folded his arms and tucked them behind his head.

"Luckiest guy on Earth and in the demon world."

**All right the ball is moving. I'm excited to get this story rolling and am dying to hear feedback. I'll update as periodically as I can and sometimes I'll only do so if I feel enough are telling me their thoughts so I can perhaps shape this to the likeness of my audience. Thanks guys! God Bless. : D**


	2. First Impressions

**Have fun with it : D God Bless!**

Early morning came slow and unsettling for Claire. Regardless that she said she was fine about learning Dante's secret…well the reality was that she wasn't as fine as she had acted. True, she was okay in general about it but it was a big thing! And not to mention it was something out of a fantasy novel. Her boyfriend was a half demon. What does that even mean? She was still safe around him right? Part of her was wondering how much he would change. His outer appearance had already changed substantially so would everything else just follow suit? So many questions jarred her mind that it was no wonder she was in and out of sleep through out the night.

She stirred slightly with the sound of her balcony door opening. She turned on her side to see Devin, still in his demi form, slowly coming in and shutting the door behind him. He smiled when he saw her sleepy smile at his presence.

"Morning," he whispered when he sat down next to her.

She stretched out and focused her eyes on him, silently noting how his handsome demon side was starting to grow on her. When she finally sat up he ruffled her hair.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Can we go to the lake…and our spot?"

He blinked at her in surprise.

"You really wanna go back there after what happened yesterday?"

She moved to sitting on her knees and gave him a nod.

"I'm sure. Besides," she got up and hopped off her bed. "You'll protect me if anything goes wrong right?" she turned back to him with a smile.

He smiled and sat up, heading over to her and placing his chin on her shoulder as her back was turned.

"Well you've got that right, so the lake it is."

He placed a kiss on the crook of her neck and, just like last night, Claire felt a shiver go through her.

"All right," shook him off and turned to him. "Out with you while I change."

"Sure I can't watch?"

Turning around, she attempted to give him a smack but he shot to her balcony doors with lightening speed. She blinked in wonderment for a moment at the movement before giving a sigh.

"Still a pervert but now he has inhuman abilities…or whatever you wanna call them. Great," she gave a sigh.

He laughed.

"Babe, your too much."

With that, he slipped out and she quickly changed into a white skirt and a blue t-shirt that had blue ribbons dangling on the top of the sleeves and then she tied up her hair with a blue ribbon that had the ends hanging all the way down to midway on her back. She headed out her balcony to see him leaning against the railing with his arms folded. When he saw her outfit he did a double-take.

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any more beautiful," he laughed.

She blushed a little but smiled.

"Ready to go?" she headed up to him.

He nodded.

"By the way," she laughed a little. "I love this new form of travel."

He picked her up with a laugh as well.

"Well I hoped you would," he kissed her nose.

With that he leapt into the air, once again doing his building hopping. They were at the lake quickly, where he landed them right at their spot, a high cliff that overlooked the entire area. From it you could see a little of the town but the entire state park was on display before them. She hopped out of his arms and smiled up at him.

"Thanks for the lift."

She put her arms around him in a hug that she had yet to give him that morning.

"I could get used to this!" he laughed and lifted her off her feet and spun her around.

When he set her down he wasted no time in kissing her soundly and fully. The moment his lips touched hers, Claire felt lightheaded and her legs gave out. He broke the kiss and brought his arms around her to catch her before she fell.

"Woah, easy there," he laughed slightly, "Are you okay?"

She slowly stood back up but continued to feel chills. They weren't cold…and they didn't feel bad at all. They felt really warm and euphoric but it only happened when he kissed her and it only started doing it since he was in his new form.

"I'm sorry," she gave a small laugh and put her hand to her head.

"Not it's fine…is everything okay?" he said putting his arms on her shoulders.

She bit her lip in thought. It was probably nothing…but she guessed it wouldn't hurt to tell him about it.

"Well it's just that…well ever since you've kissed me in your new form it's made me feel weird…but it's not in a bad way. Actually it feels really good," by now she was sure she was blushing. "But it makes me lightheaded."

He stared at her for a moment before giving her a smile, and before he turned away with a laugh, she swore she saw a small blush of red tint his face.

"Well…this may sound a bit strange, but it's because I'm in this form. If I go back you won't feel that sensation. This is just because I'm half demon…I'm more appealing to you...does that make sense?" he turned back to me.

She merely stared back at him, completely lost at his explanation.

"It's just something about my demon blood that makes me irresistible to you…though, really, I'm not sure why."

Claire was sure her face was bright red at the moment so she merely just nodded and turned away from him.

"Okay," I nodded. "Got it."

He laughed.

"Now that we have that embarrassing conversation over with…" he trailed off on purpose.

She caught the hint and smiled to him.

"Right," she headed over to him and hugged his arm, which got a loving smile from him.

They walked up to the edge of the cliff where they both sat down across from each other.

"All right. Ask away," he smiled.

She stared at him a moment before she looked down and played with the grass. There were so many things she wanted to ask at once. She had made a mental list from the night before but when the moment finally came to get them all out, she didn't know where to start so she decided that she would go with the most pressing issue.

"Well...," she trailed off a moment and looked for the right words to ask the question. "…I guess I'm just completely lost about this whole 'demon' business," she put her hands up and did quotes to emphasize the word.

"So…" he stretched the word out, asking for her to elaborate more.

"I don't know," she gave a sigh. "I guess…well what does it mean that you're a demon? Does that make sense?"

"Not really…could you be more specific? Because I mean the real translation for that would be that part of me isn't human but I don't think that's what your asking is it?"

She shook her head.

"Hmm…oh I know," she then looked at him. "How are we different…I guess?" she finished in question.

"Okay…that I can answer. Demons have more strength than humans do. We can withstand more damage to ourselves as well."

After he paused for a moment he continued.

"But I guess that certain demons have certain different abilities."

"What do you have?" she then asked.

"Well I have the strength and the speed as well as the damage thing. I'm pretty good with a sword and gun too…which I guess comes from my human side."

Claire's mind went back to the little memories she still had from before she fainted yesterday after seeing Devin kill the demon. She remembered that he suddenly had the sword he was talking about.

"That sword just appeared out of nowhere…"

He nodded.

"It does that. It's my sword Rebellion."

"You named it?" she asked with a giggle.

He gave her a smile.

"What? I thought it was a cool name…you don't like it?"

"I love it," she continued to laugh.

"But you're laughing at it," he pointed out.

After a moment she fell silent and gave him a sly smile.

"Not so much it as you."

He let himself laugh at her comment before throwing a dandelion weed he pulled at her. She batted it away and stuck her tongue out at him before he continued on.

"Anyway, it comes whenever I summon it so that is why it just randomly appeared."

"It comes to you?" a perplexed look crossed her face. "It's a sword…how the heck does it 'come to you'?"

"Now that is hard to explain…I guess you're just gonna have to take my word for it…or use your imagination."

She shook her head at him.

"Imagination huh? Fine. I guess I can do that."

"Good," he laughed. "What else?"

She shifted her position from cross-legged to curling her legs up by her as she shifted more on her side.

"Well…" she started and searched her mind. "Why was that demon there yesterday?"

He shifted at the question.

"To be honest I'm not 100 percent sure myself but it can't be anything good. You see, there hasn't been a demon sighted for about 4 years now."

"Why did it come after me?"

"I wouldn't say that it was necessarily after you…but it just happened to find you when it came after me."

Claire stared at him in question.

"Because I'm the son of Sparda, I'm what you would call a celebrity with the underworld…though not in a good way."

"They wanted to kill you?"

"Yes, it's to gain power by taking my soul."

"What?" the word slipped out on it's own.

Now this was really starting to become something out of a fantasy novel.

"Like I told you, my old man had two sons. He didn't get rid of his power to us, but his blood in us gives us half of his power and the demons know this. If they kill us and consume our soul's, then they inherit his power."

"I don't think I've ever met your brother," I then said randomly, going off track from the information that he just gave me.

At this he gave a noise that sounded a bit angry.

"No…and if I have my way, you won't."

His answer surprised her a bit.

"My brother's name is Vergil and the one thing that he can't stand for some damn reason, is that our old man fell in love with a human and that he fights to protect this world from the demons."

He paused for a moment and cast his glance out over the view before them.

"He's evil…and bitter. Even though the fact is that he wouldn't be here unless Dad fell for a human, he still hates him for it. He's just a power-hungry fool."

Claire watched as he poured venom over the words he used to describe his own kin.

"Every time we meet we cross swords. He tries to kill me to get my soul so that he can fight and kill our old man."

The last sentence shocked her completely.

"He wants to kill you and your father?" she exclaimed, almost choking it out.

He gave a laugh, though he didn't smile.

"Yep…but I haven't seen his a** in 8 years and I'd like to keep it that way…especially because of you too," he finally looked at her again.

"Why?" she asked with a little fear.

"Because I know he would try and kill you…and I'll be damned if I ever let that happen."

"Because we're dating?"

"Basically. If he ever found out about you he would try to kill you because he knows how much it would destroy me."

Claire took his hand after the sentence, earning a small smile from him and he gave her hand a squeeze.

"Anyway…enough about him. What else?"

She gave a small laugh, though the information she had learned was quiet heavy, though for his sake she pushed it aside. However, she knew that she would be replaying all of this in her head over and over when she had a moment to herself. If she couldn't get all the answers from him right away, she would do what any other normal person would do. She would try and rationalize it herself.

"Where is your father?" she then asked.

"Right now…in Hell I'm sure. He hasn't surfaced for 4 years either because there haven't been any demons up here."

When he said that, she paused immediately, replaying the sentence over and over in her head.

"You're father…is in Hell?" she exclaimed.

He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Yes, but he's quite fine," he laughed, and then stood up and cast his gaze out over the view. "Believe me."

She was beyond baffled to how anyone could be fine if they were in Hell so she waited for him to say more.

"He controls everything and he keeps the demons from coming in to this world. So really, regardless of whether he did like it or not, he pretty much needs to stay there."

"Couldn't he just kill them all…I mean he is the most powerful?"

"Every day he does that. But there are virtually billions of them that it makes me wonder if it even makes a difference."

She removed her eyes from him again and returned them to the grass that she continued to pointlessly pull out and tie together.

"Will I ever meet him?"

The question got him to shift oddly for a moment, though he kept his eyes on the distance.

"No idea. I haven't spoke to him in a while…the guy has his own agenda. I can never tell what the hell he's up to."

Though the sentence sounded mean, she felt that he was giving no heavy ill-will towards his father.

"Is he nice?"

"He has his moments…well if you want a more direct answer…yeah. He's pretty nice for the king of Hell."

She laughed at the statement and he turned back to her with a curious smile.

"Funny?"

"Yeah," she looked back down at the grass for a moment. "Yeah it is."

He laughed silently to himself before letting out a heavy sigh.

"If you want a word to describe him it would be that he's quite the character."

She started laughing again, which caused him to once again look back at his girlfriend in wonder.

"What?" he laughed the word out.

"I guess now I see where you get it."

He laughed again before heading over to her. He lifted her up, much to her surprise, before throwing her up in the air. She got a true taste of his half-demon acquired strength because she was thrown quite a ways up into the air. Looking down, she saw that she was insanely high in the air, actually. Probably over 50 feet! The knowledge of this caused her to let out a scream. Just as fast as she was thrown up, she was suddenly caught before he put her back on her feet.

At the moment though, Claire was rather disorientated, so she was also quite unable to stand by herself. She took two steps and fell only to be caught by him.

"Woah there, young lady," he laughed.

"You're such a jerk!" she rose her hand to give him a smack but his lightening reflexes caught it instantly.

She frowned at him, though all in good fun. She was still adapting to her 'new' boyfriend and his inhuman abilities. In her mind she questioned if she would ever truly get used to all of this.

"And now you're just cheating…or rather, being a show-off," she pointed out.

He merely smiled down at her and then put a hand to her face with a small laugh.

"What?" she eyed him with a suspicious smile.

He continued to smile at her without a word.

"You creepy guy…what?" she laughed the word out once again.

"Can I kiss you?"

His comment made her pause for a moment before she smiled.

"You know you can."

"Think you'll be able to handle it?"

That made Claire remember what they discussed earlier and then she knew why he had asked. She felt her cheeks grow hot. He noticed this and put his hand on the side of her head, stroking her hair.

"You'll never know how cute you are."

Her cheeks continued to get redder.

"I'm sure by now I look like a tomato…right?"

He laughed and touched his forehead to hers.

"Just a little bit," he whispered.

She put her hand to his face for a moment.

"Well…you won't have to catch me if I get light-headed."

With that he bent down and cautiously and gently put his lips over hers. The dizzying feeling hit her immediately and she took in a slightly sharp breath. He broke the kiss slowly and moved back just a little and they found themselves in a small staring contest. Both of them were unsure if the other would continue. Then, just as slowly, he kissed her again before suddenly deepening it, causing her to become breathless. It was so euphoric and full of energy she knew that if she were standing she would have fallen.

She surprised him slightly when she brought her hands up and kissed him back just as much as he was giving her. After a few more kisses, they finally broke apart and she was breathing some-what rapidly.

"Wow," she whispered, causing him to put his arms around her and pull her flush against him with a laugh.

"You all right?" he nuzzled his head with hers.

She put her hand on the side of his neck with a content smile.

"Yeah…that's gonna take some getting used to though."

The wind that had been blowing by them suddenly stopped. Devin then tensed up before shooting his head up and looked into the woods behind them.

"What's wrong?" Claire gripped his shirt in worry.

He stood up and helped her to her feet.

"There's a demon coming…I can sense it."

"…Devin," she gripped his shoulder in fear.

"Stay behind me," he said, moving in front of me.

Through the trees, out walked a horrid demon, much like the one that she first saw. This one, though, was a bit bigger. It had a human shaped torso with long arms that ended in claws as well as large claws on its feet. Its head consisted of long slimy looking tentacles that danced around it's head that contained two ink-black eyes and a large sharp-toothed mouth.

In a burst of light, Devin was suddenly engulfed in a red aura and then he threw his hand out. The moment he opened his hand, a giant sword suddenly shot up into it from the ground. This made the demon start laughing.

"Ah…it's my lucky day. The son of Sparda and a snack."

"Snack?" Claire repeated with a shudder when she realized it meant her.

"Stay right here," Devin whispered to her, putting his arm in front of her in emphasis.

She nodded before releasing her hands from him and stepping back.

"Sorry jack***. But there's no way in hell I'm letting you even breathe on her," he started walking towards it with his sword slung over his shoulder.

The demon suddenly lunged at him but it was stopped almost immediately when Devin shoved the sword up into his chest. An enormous amount of blood started to shoot out of it's new wound, spraying everywhere as it shuddered violently, letting out horrid screams.

At the sight of the blood, Claire's stomach flipped. Then from under the back of his sweatshirt, Devin pulled out two guns, one white, and the other black. He started to shoot them both at a rate that she didn't think was possible for a gun. The bullets quickly started to tear the demon apart, causing pieces of it to fly everywhere before it fell to the ground with a loud thud. Shortly after, it started to glow a black color before it disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Devin's sword drove and disappeared into the ground. He then let out a sigh and seemingly remembered that his girlfriend was there because he quickly headed over to her and dropped down to see how she was doing.

"Are you okay?"

She looked at him and nodded faintly.

"Sorry about all the blood," he said sincerely.

She shook her head but remained silent as he helped her up.

"But this isn't good," he then said, safely putting his arms around her in hopes it would sooth.

She buried her face into his chest with a shudder.

"What?"

He shook his head.

"That's two demons now…and I fear that means that something is wrong with the seal to the gate to Hell."

"…like what?" she feared to ask.

"It might be broken…this is bad."

"Broken?" she somewhat shouted. "Are you saying that demons are now free to come into this world?"

At this he gripped her tighter.

"That's exactly what it means…and so that means its time to get a visit from the old man."

She looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

He then lifted her up and held her bridal style.

"It means we better go talk to my mom and Andrew. Wanna come?"

She let out a heavy sigh with a roll of her eyes.

"Sure…why not."

He laughed before shooting up into the air towards his house. Once they got there they quickly explained to Andrew and his mother what had happened and they could tell it troubled them both.

"Claire, are you okay?" Eva asked her when they took their seats on the patio outside.

"I'm fine…there was just a lot of blood," she gave a shudder.

Despite the serious situation, they all laughed a bit and Devin pulled her into his lap.

"So what are you going to do?" Eva then asked, looking at Devin.

"We need you to call the old man and we need to meet with him to see what's going on."

She bit her bottom lip a moment in thought.

"Dante, are you sure?"

Claire looked over at her in confusion.

"Dante?" she repeated the word in question.

He laughed and gave her a quick squeeze.

"That's my real name."

"Why don't you use it?"

"Well his parents just figured that it was best to give him a common name if he was going to try and live in the human world," said Andrew.

She nodded and turned back to him.

"I like that name a lot!" she turned to him with a grin. "So gonna use it."

He smiled, once again, at her acceptance of his true person.

"Got it."

"Back to the matter at hand," Andrew then said. "Are we sure we want to call Sparda?"

Claire noticed them all exchange a set of glances.

"Can I ask why it would be a bad thing to do?" she then asked.

"Well it could be risky to have him leave Hell unattended but only if he does it for a long time. But like always, it's just a risk," explained Andrew.

"I don't think there's another option," said Dante. "I don't think they should let this get any worse if it is indeed a problem."

Eva looked to Andrew after Dante's comment.

"He is right," Eva agreed. "We should do it to be safe. And maybe he knows a little bit about what's going on."

"Okay," Andrew nodded. "When should we do it?"

Dante then stood up, lifting her back up and holding her once again.

"Right now."

They looked at him in thought for a moment before both nodding and getting up.

"Okay," Eva started. "Where should we do this?"

"Our spot at the lake. Nobody goes there," said Dante.

"All right. Lead the way," Andrew motioned for them to go.

Like Claire expected, Dante leapt into the air and they were off to their spot once again.

"So I'm gonna meet your dad?" she said as more of a statement then a question.

He looked down at her with a smile.

"Yep."

"What if he doesn't like me?"

At this he came to a stop on a thick branch of a tree and looked down at me.

"So…you're not worried that you're meeting the most powerful demon in the world, you're worried that he might not like you?" he said with an inquisitive smile. (**A/N: yes, a Twilight quote)**

"Well yeah," she said with a laugh.

He bent down and gave her a quick kiss.

"I can take you home if you don't want to meet him though," he then said.

She shook her head and rested it on his chest. He pressed her to him before taking off again, and they were at their spot soon after. He set her down and they both headed up to the ledge where they sat and waited for Eva and Andrew.

He watched her as she fidgeted with the grass.

"You sure about this?" he gave a small laugh.

"Yes," she nodded. "I'm fine. I'm actually pretty excited to meet him. I have been ever since I found out Andrew wasn't your actual father. So," she shifted her position to her knees. "Anything I should know?"

At this, he gave a huff and fell to his back, putting his arms behind his head.

"Actually, the guy can be a pervert. Really pisses me off sometimes. For a guy that is supposed to be scary and ruthless he can be a real idiot."

Claire merely smiled at him as he spoke before crawling over and sitting over him, getting him to smile.

"What?"

"I'm just finally seeing where you get all of your wonderful features."

In a swift movement he was flipped over and was now sitting over her.

"I don't know whether that's a compliment or not?"

"Geez," she reached up and flicked his nose.

He bent down and kissed the crook of her neck before bending back and putting his hand on her cheek. They smiled to each other a moment before he bent down and kissed her fully. She ran her hands through his soft white hair and he slipped an arm underneath her back, lifting her up to deepen the kiss further. She gave a gasp of surprise at the motion, and felt his mouth form into a smile. He then broke the kiss, much to her disappointment, and gave her a crooked smile.

"Sorry babe. I'd like to continue too but they're here."

She giggled when he pulled her to her feet and gave her a quick spin before tucking her close, her back to his chest and his arms bound tightly around her.

"Alright…let's do this," Andrew said when he reached them, and Claire noted a bit of reluctance in his voice.

She looked up at Dante.

"So what do they do?"

"Mother has to call him."

Claire turned to see that Eva had reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace that was in the shape of a small red ruby heart with what looked like a sterling silver sword pierced through it. She clasped her hands around it and closed her eyes. Immediately, there erupted a bright red light from her hands that then shot up to the sky from the ground underneath her. After a moment she then ran out of the red glowing circle. Dante then picked her up and jumped up over the circle and landed by Andrew and Eva, who had moved quite a considerable distance, from the circle.

Claire soon found out why, as the circle suddenly split the ground open where fire started to shoot up rather high into the air and all over. With a massive explosion, the fire shot up in the form of a tube. When the fire finally died out, there stood a figure, a little bigger than a human, with big sword across their shoulders. The glare from the surrounding fire, along with the fire itself, died out she was finally able to see them fully, and it terrified her. The demon that emerged was mostly black, except for a few red streaks here and there. Also, it had two curled horns at the top of its head with a tail that was wrapped around its waist with a spike at the end. On it's back it also had four wing-like structures that fanned about it as it stood. It had a mouth that had sharp teeth and red glowing eyes. It then let out a roar and Claire gripped at Dante in fear.

"Dante…" she said in a shaky whisper.

He felt her trembling and hugged her back.

"It's okay," he started. "That's my father."

She looked up at him in shock, even though she knew that was who was supposed to come through the portal. But, how could Eva have fallen in love with that?

Mentioning Eva, she suddenly ran past all of them with a huge smile on her face.

"Sparda!" she shouted.

Suddenly, upon seeing her, he stabbed his sword into the ground and was enveloped in a red light. When that light faded, she let out a sound of surprise to now see a human crouched in the place of the demon. He was wearing a dark purple suit with a white undershirt and he had slightly long white hair that went down to just below his ears, just like Dante's.

When Claire had finally focused on his new form, taking it all in, she had to silently admit that he was a very handsome looking man.

He got up and caught Eva who threw her arms around him and their laughter filled the air. He then set her down and kissed her rather passionately and for quite a while before breaking it and taking her face in his hands.

"I've missed you," he said.

At hearing the sound of his voice, Claire also found that attractive and she had to mentally hit herself.

_'Stop thinking like that!' she silently scolded herself. 'That is your boyfriend's father for goodness sakes!'_

He then broke away from Eva and headed over to them, stopping at Andrew and giving him a quick hug.

"Hello again, my old friend," Andrew said, shaking his hand after the hug.

"Good to see you. I hope everything is okay?"

"Sort of. We have some things we'd like to talk to you about."

He nodded before turning his attention to his son. He wasn't able to see Claire yet, because she had retreated and was hiding behind Dante.

"I see you haven't changed a bit, old man," Dante scoffed with his arms folded, his regular BA pose.

"And I see you've still got that stubborn a** attitude of yours," he said with a light chuckle. "Anything new?"

At this, Dante turned around to look at Claire and she looked up at him.

"Go ahead," he whispered. "You'll be fine."

She nodded mutely before stepping out from behind him. At seeing her, Sparda stopped, and a surprised look fell over his features. It stayed there for a while as he looked her over and at times looked at Dante as if he was trying to get a reaction. It seemingly clicked to him who she was and then he smiled a rather gorgeous smile to Claire, who just found herself staring at him once again. He turned back to Eva and she smiled as well.

"That's the girl I've been telling you all about," she said.

He then turned back to Claire.

"Claire? I'm so happy to finally meet you. So you're the girl that stole my son's heart?"

He looked at his son with a proud smile.

"She's gorgeous, Dante."

She blushed with a smile at the statement and extended her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Sir."

He laughed.

"No need for formalities here! Just call me Dad."

He reached her finally and extended his hand, she thought, to shake hers. So, Claire was completely surprised when he took her into his arms and stared down at her, their faces rather close.

"I don't greet such a beautiful young lady with a handshake you know."

Before Claire could say anything he lowered down and kissed her! She squeaked in shock as her mind went completely blank at the action. She couldn't believe that Dante's father was kissing her! Even if it wasn't a relation the fact was he was a complete stranger to her as well.

Claire didn't have much more time to think about it, however, as the swooning feeling she felt with Dante suddenly hit her but it was magnified a million times over.

"What the hell are you doing!" she heard Dante shout in pure anger. She managed to open her eyes to see him coming at them but in one swift, and hard to see, movement, Sparda threw his hand up, sending him back in a current of unseen energy.

"Oh geez, honey," Eva put her hand on her face in shame. "You really are a charmer."

_'Hello Eva!' Claire thought. 'Your husband is kissing me! Do something!'_

Claire's feet gave out but Sparda caught her and deepened the kiss further. She must have been out of her dang mind, she mused, because she was starting to enjoy it, though her thoughts were in a complete daze. He ran a hand through her hair before stopping to hold her head, as she was now completely limp in his arms.

"Damn you to hell you bastard!" Dante came back into sight, running back up to them.

After what seemed like a millennium, Sparda finally broke the kiss and looked down at her to see that she was bright red and flushed and he smiled before ducking down and taking in her scent.

"You taste and smell very sweet…I can see why he loves you. Not to mention you're quite the person to kiss, young lady," he said in his handsome voice and gave her a wink.

All she could do was stare up at him as her body had seemingly shut down from the pleasure of having kissed a full demon. **(A/N - : O hehe)**

The next thing she knew she was suddenly in Dante's arms after he snatched her from Sparda and that she was in his lap and he was kneeling; mostly likely because she was weak on her feet at the moment.

"I should kill you, you son of a b****!" he glared daggers at his father before looking down at her to make sure she was fine.

His dad merely smiled.

"Oh you'll be fine," he laughed before Eva smacked his arm.

He turned to her with an innocent smile.

"You really are a pervert you know that," she crossed her arms and raised her brow at him.

He gave a childlike laugh and put his hand around her.

"That poor thing," Eva looked down at her. "It's a miracle she didn't pass out!"

Sparda laughed.

"I went easy on her," he said. "She'll be fine."

"I'm gonna kick you're a** old man!" came Dante's angered voice.

Selling short the moment, Andrew approached Sparda and whispered something in his ear. His smile faded a little.

"I figured you were calling me because of that. I've noticed it too," he nodded to him.

"As of right now," Sparda started. "The seal between these two worlds is still in tact, so that's not the cause."

Dante looked on angrily at his father for what he just did to Claire but pushed his thoughts aside and focused on the problem at hand. Though, he was sure gonna make him pay for what he did eventually he promised himself.

"Then what the hell is the cause?" he said with an edge of anger. "That's the only thing I could think of that would be."

He looked at his son.

"I don't know Dante. One thing it could mean…is that there are already demons here in this world that have been hidden from them. Or, someone could be here putting them here."

Claire was listening to the conversation but was still completely dazed from her recent experience and was trying to put the defrosters on in her brain and get the fog out, so to speak. Eventually she was starting to come to. She had no idea how to react to what just happened but came to find that the topic of conversation was rather serious and she got caught up in it, forgetting about her previous engagement for a moment, when she heard the last comment by Sparda.

"How can someone put demons here?" she asked.

Dante brought his attention back to his now 'conscious' girlfriend while Sparda looked at her for a moment.

"One thing you will come to know, Dear, is that there are demons that have powers that allow them to summon demons without having to bring them from Hell."

"…Who could do that?" she looked up at Dante.

She saw him grow angrier as a thought apparently came to him.

"Vergil."

At the mention of his other son's name, Sparda looked down in what looked like a touch of sadness and he gave a sigh.

"Yes that very well could be it."

Right then, Claire felt sad as well, seeing him looking so distressed about his other son and the path that he had chosen. She remembered what she had talked about Dante previously.

"I'm sorry," she then said before she could stop herself.

They all looked at her, but Sparda looked on with curiosity to her words.

"…about Vergil," she finished.

At this, he bore her a gentle smile.

"It's quite all right my dear. But thank you for your concern."

She smiled back to him and then he opened his arms out to her.

"How 'bout a hug?"

She blinked a few times, unsure how to react and with memories of their kiss coming back, before she felt Dante's grip on her tighten.

"How 'bout I kick you're a**?" he glared at him.

He gave light chuckle and dropped his arms.

"Was worth a shot. Maybe next time."

"Like hell there'll be a next time old man," he said sternly. "Keep your damn hands off my girlfriend."

His smile grew to his son's reaction before he headed over and put his arms around Eva.

"Oh well. At least I've still got you," he said resting his head on her shoulder and giving her neck a kiss.

She smiled and leaned into him, obvious that she missed the physical contact with her husband. The sight was nice to see and Claire let herself smile. She then felt Dante lift her up before he set her on the ground and turned her around to face him.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a brow raised.

She gave an unsure nod, and was still completely shocked really about the spontaneous kiss and behavior of this supposed evil demon king of Hell. Dante had been right, he was quite a character. Not wanting to dwell on it much further she decided it was best to push out of the way for now, so she gave him a smile to assure him further.

"Yeah I'm fine," she giggled. "It was just a bit of a shocker."

He didn't laugh back, but sent his father another death glare.

"You can't hate me forever Dante," came his father's response to the glare in a chipper tone.

"Watch me, you bastard," he said, once again tightening his grip on Claire.

Sparda laughed and broke away from Eva and headed over to Andrew where they continued to talk about the situation. Dante looked back down at his girlfriend.

"You sure?"

She laughed and put her hand on his face.

"I'm sure."

At this he finally smiled.

"Good. Now do you mind if I kiss you?"

She blushed a bit by the way he said it, and how he was holding her. One arm was around her and resting on the small of her back, the other was on her face where his thumb was gently massaging below her ear.

"Again Dante," she said with a smile. "You know you can anytime."

He dipped down and captured her lips deeply before lowering the hand that was on her face to around her upper back where he pressed her as close as he could to himself. Eva smiled at the scene before Andrew and Sparda stopped talking and noticed as well. Upon seeing his son kissing her, Sparda smiled a proud smile, happy that he had fallen in love with a human like he had. He was also grateful that Claire had accepted him for who he was. In a lot of ways, she was so much like Eva to him but she shone with her own unique beauty.

"She reminds me why I love humans so much," he said with a light laugh.

Andrew turned to him with a smile and nodded mutely. Then Sparda started being Sparda again. It had been a while since he had been around to tease his son and he was going to have as much fun with it as he could.

"When do you plan to stop kissing like a little kid, Son?" he laughed. "Kiss her the way she deserves to be kissed."

Dante's arm suddenly left its place on her back and she heard a gunshot rip through the air. Sparda had leapt into the air before the bullet made contact with him. Dante then broke the kiss slowly and Claire was looking up at him in shock. She couldn't believe he just fired a gun at his father!

"Excuse me for a moment, Babygirl," he said with a smile, using his nickname for her.

In a second, he leaped up into the air, chasing after his father. Both of them threw their arms out and in an instant, two swords shot from the ground into their hands. When they landed, they both jumped forward and their swords clashed. Claire looked on in fear that they were going to kill each other and she hurried over to Eva who stopped her before she could say anything.

"They do this all the time," she assured her. "They're fine."

"Fine!" she exclaimed. "They could kill each other!"

She smiled and laughed a little.

"Don't forget, Claire. They've both got demon blood running through them. It's going to take a bit more than a sword or a gun to kill them."

Claire stared at her, completely not understanding what that meant but she was at a loss for words as she continued to watch her boyfriend and his father go at it so fiercely. His father then thrust his hand forward and Dante was sent to the ground where he collided horribly, kicking up debris and large parts of the earth before coming to a stop.

"Dante!" she shouted in fear and ran over to him.

The moment she reached him, the dust had settled and she found him standing up with his sword slung over his shoulder, looking up at his father with a smirk. When he noticed Claire was near him, he turned to her and stared at her for a moment, taking in the feared expression she had.

With that, he smiled gently and headed over to her, putting his hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. But we do this all the time. I'll be fine."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"You're gonna hurt each other!"

He laughed.

"Since I'm a half-demon and he's full demon we're not that easy to kill. Don't worry. I'll be done as soon as I teach him a lesson!" with that, he leaped back at his father.

"This is not normal!" Claire shouted, clearly frazzled by the situation.

The fight continued to wage and it looked like his father had the advantage and she could only assume because he was a full demon.

Claire's concentration of the battle was soon shot as she suddenly went rigid with a cold feeling. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she actually started to shiver, regardless of the fact that it was the middle of summer and it was actually quite humid. Her mind started reeling and she actually fell to the ground where she put her hand over her heart for a moment. Even though it was hard to focus on anything at the moment, she knew she had felt this feeling before.

"Dante," she tried to shout to him but it only came out as a small cry. "…Dante."

Her breathing started to become slower and all she could think about was that she knew she had felt this before.

The guys clashed their swords once again before a strange feeling hit Dante that told him to look down, which he did and he immediately paused. His father followed his gaze to see that his girlfriend was on the ground with her hand on her heart and it looked as though breathing was a problem for her at the moment.

Dante was by her side in an instant, sword dropped and his hands carefully pulling her into his lap.

"Claire what's wrong?" he asked with panic in his voice.

The others joined them shortly after, Sparda being the first, and his face plastered with worry.

"Demons…"

The word slipped out of her mouth before she even realized it. She had not even thought of it but that was certainly it. That was what she was feeling! It was the same feeling she felt upon seeing her first demon…though it was magnified a million fold.

"Demons?" Dante replied in confusion.

"They're coming," she tried to stand and he helped her up. "And there are a lot of them."

She looked about herself, trying to find out exactly where they were but she knew darn well that was what she was feeling.

"Claire I don't sense any," Dante said in worry about how she was acting. "And I don't understand why you think you can."

His statement was true, she thought. Really how did she know that was what she was sensing. She couldn't explain it, it was just one of those things you are sure about. He looked back to his dad who also shook his head, silently saying he didn't either. Dante was about to suggest that Claire go home and rest before he stiffened and saw that his father had as well.

"She's right," Sparda said breathlessly before looking down at her in shock. "They are coming."

Sparda then looked at his son and nodded and got a nod back.

"Andrew look after the girls!" he said before raising his sword back up.

Dante turned back to her in just as much surprise as how she had sensed the demons as well. One, how could she have sensed demons, and two, how come she had done it before Sparda and himself?

"Stay by Andrew and you'll be safe."

She nodded before he picked up his sword and joined his father's side. Soon after, both of them were engulfed in their familiar red auras, swords raised for battle.

A dead silence hit the area before it shattered when literally hundreds of demons came shooting down from the sky. They both leaped to the sky and began slashing away and shooting through demon after demon as they seemed to endlessly be coming from the clouds. One by one, countless demon bodies fell all around them, the sight was rather sickening but at this point she was some-what used to it. The horrible sound of tearing flesh and demonic screams of pain shattered the calm evening about them. Blood was spraying left and right and limbs were being tossed around like footballs.

The fighting dragged on and they really started to wonder if there would be an end to the demons. Soon after, the demons did start to thin out, until there was only a handful left. The moment that Sparda's sword slashed through the final demon, there came a bright blue flash of light before a young man suddenly appeared. She gasped upon seeing him when he came closer. He looked almost exactly like Dante, though there was a difference that could be seen, also, he wore his hair differently; slicked back but it was naturally spiked. He had a blue trench coat that covered a black shirt and he wore a pair of casual black pants. Over his shoulder he had a samurai-style sword and around his waist he held two guns. Everything about him mimicked Dante in a way.

"Vergil…I should have known."

Dante's comment made Claire pause for a moment before she looked back up at the young man in realization.

"…that's his brother?" she said breathlessly.

"Well well. Dante it's definitely been a while. And father…in the human world? What a surprise," he smirked.

At this, Sparda lowered his sword for a moment.

"Yes it has been a while Vergil…and I see you continue to follow a shameful path."

"Shameful?" he repeated curiously. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

He then pointed his sword forward at them.

"Falling in love with a human…you became weak. It's pathetic that you're my father."

Sparda subtly flinched at the words, but they stung at Claire. She was shocked that he could speak that way to his own father.

"If he hadn't you wouldn't even be here!" Dante exclaimed in anger. "Why the hell can't you figure that out you bastard!"

In a split second, both Dante and Vergil's swords clashed. They went at each other ruthlessly, it was horrible to watch. They seemed equally matched in swordsmanship as they matched each other blow for blow. They truly hated each other even though they were brothers. Claire didn't know what it was, but she couldn't take it. She was able to stand pools of blood and demons being slaughtered right in front of her but for some reason this made her horrified.

"Stop…" she breathed the word out. "…STOP!"

They immediately froze and both looked down at her. Vergil then looked at Dante before pushing off of their clashed swords and moving a little away from him.

"A human?"

Dante looked at him.

"Who is she?"

It was then that a look of seeming understanding came over him followed by a look of pure anger that took its place.

"Don't tell me you've fallen for a human as well as our damn father!"

He shot his hand out and pointed it at Claire. In an instant, the ground around her glowed red and a hoard of demons shot out around her.

"NO!" she heard the mixed shout from both Dante and Sparda.

In fear, she threw her hands out and let out a shout of terror. The moment she finished that movement, a pure white light surrounded her, immediately killing off and destroying the demons, until there was nothing left. The light extended up and reached Vergil, who suddenly acted as if it was painful to him.

"W-what is this!" he shouted and shielded his eyes.

Soon after, he disappeared on the spot.

The light eventually faded and looked as though it was going back inside of Claire's body. A moment later, she felt herself falling, as she seemed to be completely stripped of all her energy. Like before, she felt arms envelope her before she hit the ground.

"Claire?" Dante's panicked voice reached her ears.

She started to go in and out of consciousness as voices rose up all around her.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know…it came from her."

"Is she going to be okay?"

Her eyes then started to shut for good.

"She should be fine. I think she's just drained."

"What exactly did she just do!"

She tried to focus ears to listen but was failing horribly; she had never felt so drained. She could only make out that it was Dante and Sparda's voices around her. She then slowly slipped into sleep with their voices fading around her into silent darkness.

**Kinda a cliffy but oh well. I didn't realize how LOOOONG this chapter played out to be. Hope you liked it. Please let me know with a nice review!**


	3. Heartfelt

**Enjoy and God Bless!**

Claire awoke slowly to find herself in Dante's room, tucked under one too many sheets, her head atop one too many pillows. Sitting up slowly, she felt a dizziness fall over her and she fell back to the bed and put her hand to her head. Her mind tried to focus on how she ended up where she was but all she kept getting was a headache for her troubles. She let out a long and frustrated sigh and tuned her eyes to the room before her eyes fell upon the window to where she cast her glance outside. After a long staring contest with the passing clouds, she gave up trying to figure things out on her own and decided to find out from Dante.

She sat up slowly, and threw off the covers, putting her feet on the ground. The moment that she stood up she felt a little light-headed and swooned. Before she could fall to the ground, she felt strong arms envelope her gently and then Claire found herself staring at a worried boyfriend.

"Dante," she said his name in surprise.

"Hey," he gathered her in his arms and slowly sat down on the bed, where he pulled her into his lap.

She was sitting with her back to his chest, his arms wrapped securely around her.

"Are you okay and all?" came his voice.

She nodded mutely.

"What happened? My head's spinning a bit," came her question.

There was a moment of silence.

"Dante?" she turned and looked up at him to see he had a semi-stern and worried expression.

She then turned to face him fully, though it was hard with his firm grip on her. She seemingly brought him out of his reverie when she put her hand on his face. He gave a jump and looked down at her, his anger faded and he put his hand over hers. For some odd reason, his expression cast Claire back to thinking and she started to clear up the questions as she started to remember the events that lead up to her waking up there.

"I remember," she then said quietly. "It's because of your brother, right?"

He stared at her a moment.

"Claire do you remember anything else?"

She paused as her eyes fell from him back to his window where she stared at the branches of a tree slowly moving in the breeze. She thought about it really hard and for a while nothing happened. All she remembered was the hoards of demons that suddenly came from nowhere before his brother randomly showed up as well.

"Claire?"

She ignored him as her mind continued to play through the events before her apparent blackout moment. It was then that a flash of a bright light came into her mind.

"I remember a white light…and that's it."

"That's all?"

She nodded and looked up at him.

"Where did it come from?" she asked.

Her question made him furrow his brows at her in an emotion she could not read.

"What's wrong?" she put her hand on his chest in concern.

"You did that."

She paused a moment and replayed the statement over in her mind.

"What?"

"The light…it came from you," he repeated carefully. "You really don't remember?"

"It came…from me?" she repeated in confusion and disbelief.

The door then opened and they both saw Sparda come in.

"How is she?"

"She's fine but she doesn't remember everything clearly. She doesn't think the light came from her."

Sparda furrowed his brows, much like Dante had.

"You really don't?"

It was then that Claire started to feel bad that she wasn't being any help.

"I'm sorry," she hung her head. "I know I'm not helping."

Dante laughed and buried his face in her hair and she saw Sparda smile gently to her.

"It's quite alright, Kiddo. For now let's just get you something to eat?"

She smiled faintly and gave a nod before, like she assumed, Dante lifted her up and carried her downstairs to their living room where he gently sat her down on their rather large and extremely comfy black sectional.

Eva came in and quickly headed over to her.

"Are you alright, Dear? You took quite a fall…and made quite a scene…where did that light come from?"

Sparda put his hand on her shoulder and she turned to him.

"For now let's give her something to eat and let her rest."

Eva nodded and stood up.

"What would you like?"

"Oh…well anything is fine really."

She gave her a smile before she retreated to her kitchen with her husband. Claire then realized that Dante had left for a moment and so she was left alone to let her eyes wander around the house. Her eyes fell upon a bookshelf that had a thick photo album sitting on top of it and it looked to be covered in dust as if it had been forgotten for a long time. She headed over and picked it up before taking it back to the sofa and wrapping herself in a blanket that was folded on the floor.

"What's that?"

She looked up to see Dante coming over to her. He sat down next to her and wasted no time in pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her, like always. She smiled and snuggled into his warm embrace.

"I think it's a photo album. I got it from over there," she pointed to the bookshelf.

Then his parent's joined them, bringing her a sandwich of sorts with a packet of fruit snacks, since Eva knew she loved them.

"Thank you," she smiled to her, getting one in return.

Eva sat down across from them and Sparda sat next to her, leaning her into him.

"I see you've found our family photo album," she said.

"Really?" Claire said with interest before opening it up finally.

"Yep," Sparda nodded. "We have photos in there from a while back I believe. Even some baby pictures," he said the words with tease and looked over at Dante.

Dante rolled his eyes at him with a huff.

"Shut it."

"Now now," Claire laughed. "Be nice to your dad."

Dante made a skeptic noise of disapproval and Sparda laughed slightly.

"Thank you, young lady. You should really listen to her, Dante."

He merely remained silent as he glared daggers into his old man. Claire laughed nervously at the atmosphere between the two demons before finally bringing her attention back to the album. She flipped until she hit the first picture, which was a picture of Sparda and Eva in a rather romantic pose. He had his arms around her at her waist and was looking down at her while she leaned into him, her arms reaching up his. From their position, they could both see the picture and they both sighed with content.

"It's beautiful," Claire said with sincerity and looked up at both of them.

"Thank you," he nuzzled Eva's head with his. "That one is our favorite. You'll come to know that I love this woman very much."

Eva blushed at this and giggled.

"Yeah you could say that," she started. "Also, every photo of our family was drawn. Sparda had a thing for portraits."

I flipped through the next pages to see that all of them were about the couple and they were all really beautiful and romantic. The first two were black and white sketches, one they were holding each other, and the other had Sparda on his knees with his arms around Eva's waist as she looked down at him, resting a hand on his head and shoulder.

The next two were in color and were expertly drawn, it looked like a camera took them. The first was a picture of Sparda and Eva in an embrace while standing in a field of purple flowers. The really cute part was that Eva had a pair of yellow butterfly wings drawn to her and Sparda was holding a bouquet of purple flowers from the field behind his back, as though he was about to surprise her with them. The final picture of them was with Sparda standing behind her with his arms around her waist. Eva had one hand on one of his and the other reached up and rested behind his head.

The pictures made Claire smile. She thought about their backgrounds and how it was really a beautiful love considering he was a full demon and she was a human. It was like one of those fantasy impossible love stories.

"Who drew these?"

"Andrew," said Eva. "He's really good isn't he?"

"Yeah he is…their incredible…you guys are so beautiful together!" she looked up at them with a shy smile to the comment.

Claire received two very heart-warming smiles in return.

"Thank you very much, Claire. It's so nice to hear that," said Eva.

"It really is," Sparda nodded to her. "Thank you."

She flipped the page and blushed immediately upon seeing a rather seductive portrait of the three men of the family. The picture was the three of them sitting on a red couch with a red curtain behind them, all of them were in matching black suits but they wore them differently. The window behind them had splatters of blood across it. Sparda was sitting on the arm of the couch with one leg crossed over the other. He looked to be of royal refinement the way he was posed properly and his hair was neatly slicked back. Vergil was on the far left with his naturally spiked hair. He wore the white undershirt slightly unbuttoned, which exposed his neck. When Claire's eyes finally got to Dante she really blushed. He was sitting lazily on the couch but in a pretty BA pose, one arm resting behind his brother with one leg crossed over the other as he slouched slightly into the couch. He wore no white undershirt so his finely toned body was exposed for the world to see. After seeing that she was just staring, Sparda smiled.

"See something you like?" he asked with tease.

Claire was jolted from her reverie and felt her blush get bigger.

"U-uh, no!" she looked up and shook her head.

She then felt Dante lean over and take a look at the photo and she felt him smile against her hair.

"Ahh...you do like what you see, don't you?"

She swore her face was as bright red as the couch in the photo.

"N-no! You pervert!" she gave him a slight elbow and looked up at him with a frown.

He smiled.

"I'm the pervert?" he mused. "Sure that's not you?"

"I'm not perverted!" Claire shouted at him. "You're a hell of a lot more perverted than I am!"

His parent's watched them with smiles, they were really cute together.

"You never swear," he mused, his face moving closer to hers. "Could it be you're flustered because you know you want me so bad?"

She stared at him with a hung jaw. Did he really say that! It was then she remembered that they had an audience of his parents and she was even more embarrassed, if it were possible at this point.

"You better stop it," she tried to sound calm but was failing horribly.

"Or what?"

She felt her breath hitch in her throat at how close he was getting to her, and how paralyzing his ice blue eyes were. True, she really wanted to kiss him, but there was no way she was losing this battle. Not to mention how awkward it would be to do it when his parents had a front row seat. Sure, she had kissed him in front of them before yesterday, but that was from a distance at least.

"I'll seriously kill you if you don't stop right now," she said with a daring smile.

He gave her a crooked smile in return.

"You couldn't kill me," he whispered before bending forward and kissing her neck. Her whole body gave a shake and she knew he felt it.

"See…you want me so bad right now," he said huskily into her ear.

"D-Dante!" she shouted. "I'm gonna kill—"

In a swift movement he bent down and kissed her, causing her to squeak in shock, much like when Sparda had kissed her suddenly. He pressed himself firmly against her and deepened the kiss substantially. She managed to break their mouths for a moment.

"Dante!" she shouted, almost screamed. "You're parents are—"

He didn't care. Cutting her off again, he kissed her just as deeply as he had before she broke it. His arms wrapped underneath her and he pulled her up into him, causing her to gasp. He swallowed her gasp with a smile; clearly he was enjoying this. Her mind had gone blank by now, as much as she didn't want to admit it, this was pure heaven for her. Sure it was because he had demon blood that she was enjoying it, but that wasn't all of it. It was also because she loved him so much. However, before she realized what she was doing, her hands had reached up and started to unbutton his shirt. He broke the kiss in surprise at her actions before looking down at her perplexed.

For a moment she paused as she looked at him and then glanced over at his parents to see they were also giving her a surprised look. Then, her face exploded into a blush and she threw him off her. She stood up, her hands to her face as her expression went into utter embarrassment, disbelief and shock.

"Oh my God!" she shouted. "What's wrong with me!"

She then ran out of the room as she continued to shout out her embarrassment.

"Claire?" Eva looked after her in concern.

Sparda merely laughed.

"Looks like you're pretty good after all, Son."

Eva gave him a smack to his arm.

"You guys and your darn demon blood. Poor thing! It was too much for her."

Dante got up with a laugh.

"I've got her. Hold on."

He left the room but almost immediately, Claire ran back in, her hands still to her face in pure embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry…I wasn't thinking!"

Dante came up to her but she moved away from him.

"I'm out of my mind!" she shouted and started running again.

Sparda laughed.

"She's fun. I love her," he nudged Eva and she nodded in agreement.

"Babygirl it's fine," Dante said coming up to her.

"No it's not! I just tried to undress you!"

She started running around the house again.

"Seriously…it's fine!" Dante called after her before running after her.

After a rather long refusal, Dante finally got his girlfriend to come back and settle down, though he had to drag her back and keep her seated a while till she seemed as though she would finally stay.

Dante gave her back the photo album in hopes it would keep her seated permanently and take her mind off what she just did. She opened it back up and turned the page, only to startle all of them with a pure girlish squeal. And really…who could blame her? Claire was looking down at a picture of Dante and his brother as babies!

"OH MY GOSH! YOU WERE ADORABLE!"

He almost had to cover his ears. She continued her girl fit as she looked at the picture.

"They both were," Eva smiled.

She then noticed that they were both sitting on top of their father, who was asleep.

"Aww…Sparda this is just too cute of a picture. You're the cutest demon ever!"

He laughed and cocked a brow to her.

"Why thank you, Dear."

Truly, the statement did make him happy. Once again, he just sat in admiration of her inner beauty and love for him and his family, especially his son.

"It's not that great of a photo," Dante said, clearly not in love with his girlfriend seeing him as a baby. "It's embarrassing really."

"No it's not!" she said doing a spin. "You're so precious!"

He groaned but remained silent.

After finally absorbing that photo enough, Claire turned the page only to have another girl fit and screaming session escape her. It was a picture of Dante and his brother as kids. They were hugging their father and he had his arms around them as well, as if he had been away for a while and they were there to greet him when he returned.

"DEMON'S ARE TOO CUTE!" Claire almost screamed as she spun around.

Sparda burst out laughing at her girlish actions and Eva was also quite amused.

"Babygirl it's not that big a deal," he said calmly, only to have her throw a book and hit him in the head from across the room.

"Yes it is! You just hush. You're not gonna ruin this for me."

He groaned and put his face in his hands, perhaps just a little embarrassed by how into this she was.

"I want to have a ton of babies and they're all gonna look like you did!"

Dante choked in shock at the statement and Sparda couldn't hold back his laughter. Eva smiled a motherly smile.

"You're way too into this," Dante stared at her.

Claire then put on a sudden evil smile and he stared at her in confusion.

"What's the matter, Dante?"

She said it so seductively it made his breath hitch, and caught Eva and Sparda's attention to her sudden change. She headed over and crawled onto Dante, causing him to fall back onto the couch and stare at her in pure confusion.

"Don't you want to have kids?" she said bending down and getting close to his face.

He was at a complete loss for her actions towards him and all he could do is stare dumfounded. Then, something that rarely happened ever, he blushed. Claire had won this game. She pulled back from him, and it was clear she had flustered him.

"Jokes on you this time! You're blushing, Dante!" she shouted and poked fun at him.

He blinked a moment before finally getting it.-

"Wow, she really did get you," Sparda laughed. "Looks like she's got a bit of demon in her."

Dante sat up, his eyes on his girlfriend the whole time.

"You are so gonna pay."

The way he said it stopped her celebrating. He then leaped at her and got a scream of surprise from her.

"Dante, no!"

"Oh no. You're not getting out of this one without punishment."

He lunged at her and she barely managed to dodge before he ran after her out of the room. Just as quickly as they had left, they were back in the room. He had Claire in his arms as she squirmed to get free. She moved a little to fast for him and they both fell to the ground behind the couch and out of Eva and Sparda's view.

"You klutz!" she shouted.

He then reached down and started to tickle her relentlessly.

"Dante!" she screamed the word out in a fit of giggles as she squirmed all over the floor.

"Say you give up," he laughed through tickling her.

"No!" she squirmed more. "Dante!" she screamed.

Suddenly, Dante was thrown up off her when she brought her legs up and kicked them into his chest.

"Woah now," he laughed.

She jumped to her feet and brought her hands up in a fighting pose.

"Oh?" said Sparda. "What's this?"

"Claire's fluent in many styles of fighting. She took some classes on her various mission trips," Eva explained. "She's pretty good I dare say."

He laughed, though clearly amused by this.

"Kick his a**, Claire!" he clapped.

"Oh I'll do more than that," she said.

In an instant she shot towards Dante. She threw her fists out at him but he either dodged them easily or caught them.

"Gonna have to do better than that sweetheart," he teased.

Getting an idea she suddenly pretended to sway about her, trying to convince him that she was having another moment of being lightheaded. He fell for it, and hurried over to her.

"Are you —"

He was cut off by a clean punch to his face. Sparda burst out laughing again and started to clap. Not stopping there, Claire then grabbed his shoulders and slammed her knee into his stomach before jumping back and then side kicking him across his face. He stumbled backwards and held his jaw, looking back at her.

"Damn, Babygirl," he said before wiping at his mouth. "You pack a punch."

"Way to fall for it," his dad laughed.

He shot him a glance.

"Pipe down, old man," he scoffed.

He turned just in time to catch her hand but failed to stop as another fist collided with his face once again. In an instant though, his body was gone from in front of her and the next thing Claire knew, she was in his grasp with his arms firmly around her, pinning her movements, her back to his chest.

"Hmm," he said, burying his face in her hair. "You're pretty feisty."

She then surprised him again when she slammed her head back, hitting him square in the nose. He immediately let her got and held his face.

"Really stubborn too," he added with a smile when he removed his hand from his face. "Come on Babygirl, you can't hurt me."

She merely kept her hands up in defense, still not giving him any word. Dante then looked over at the coffee table by chance to see that she still had not eaten her sandwich.

"Since you seem to not want that," he said and in an instant he had it in his hand and was eating it. "Thanks."

"Jerk!" she shouted and jumped over the couch.

He dodged all her attempts to get her food back and before she knew it, he had eaten the entire thing. She stared at him in disbelief.

"Seriously?" she said with some anger.

He laughed.

"Seriously. You can always make another one."

She then ran over to him and he got behind her and grabbed her, both of them falling onto the couch.

"Let me go," she said with a quick shake.

He laughed and placed his lips to her neck.

"You love it when I hold you like this," he laughed, sending a current of warm breath across her neck.

The sensation was nice, but she knew he wanted her to give in and she was not in the mood to lose any more.

"I won't kiss you for a week," she then said.

He gave a 'humph' before releasing her.

"You gave up fast," Sparda commented.

"You don't know her," he said in defense. "She means it."

Eva smiled.

"Glad to know you love her that much."

Claire smiled in victory and picked up the photo album again. She turned the page and was met with another rather sexy picture of Dante and his brother. They were both fully grown up to where they were now and both were wearing all black outfits. Neither smiling, Vergil was looking at the camera and Dante had his back to him.

"When was this taken?" she started. "I thought you both hated each other?"

"That was taken a while back," Sparda answered. "It was the last picture Vergil took with them before he chose the life he lives now."

She fell silent at the comment and stared at the picture for a moment. Sparda noticed her sudden deflation and smiled again.

"It's okay, Claire," he started. "Really."

She didn't look up at him, she only nodded, and then felt Dante put his arm around her and pulled her back into him. She felt horrible that their family had such issues. It must be horrible to be hated so adamantly by your own son and she really couldn't bear it when she read or saw families who had issues like that.

Claire was a very caring individual. Her friends and family knew her to sometimes care about the world's problems to a point where she made them out to be personally hers as well. She had a very caring and kind heart that surprised many people. It was almost inhuman. That was one of the reasons that she went on so many mission trips and was such an active volunteer and server in her church.

She turned to the final photo in the album and she gasped slightly. It was a beautiful and loving portrait of the whole family together. Dante and Vergil were slightly older than infants and they were laying beside each other asleep with their father asleep next to them, his arm draped over them in fatherly protection. They had a blanket over them while Eva was sitting next to them, her hand on her husband lovingly.

"My absolute favorite," Eva sighed.

"Yep. I'd have to agree with you on that one," Sparda laughed. "Don't you think so, Claire?"

Silence.

"Claire?" he repeated.

It was then that Dante noticed that his girlfriend was shaking.

"Hey," he said in concern. "What's wrong, Claire?"

They focused their eyes on her. She was looking down and her bangs covered her eyes from them, however they soon knew she was crying when a drop landed on the picture.

"It's not fair," she said quietly.  
She then looked up at them, tears streaming rapidly down her cheeks.

"It's just not fair!" she stood up. "Why did Vergil do all this? Why does he hate you!"  
Dante stood up and attempted to put his arms around her to console her but she moved back.

"You deserve a happy family! You do! It's just not fair!"

She then ran out of the room and they heard their front door shut.

"Claire!" Dante shouted after her in concern.  
He started to run after her but felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back to see his father.

"Please Son…let me handle this."

Something in him told him that he could trust that his father would take care of it, and something else told him that it would be better if it were him instead. They followed Sparda outside to see that Claire had fallen to her knees underneath the giant weeping willow in their spacious country backyard. She had to her back to them and her face was buried in her hands.

Sparda approached her carefully; Dante and Eva had stopped a while back and just watched. They both couldn't believe how much she cared about the issue.

"Claire," he said her name gently.

She turned back to him.

"It's really okay," he smiled. "We're okay with what has happened."

"No!" she shouted, shaking from her tears. "It's not okay..."

He finally reached her and knelt down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. The moment he did, she turned and buried herself into his chest.

The movement shocked Dante and Eva, and Sparda was also a little taken back but he quickly recovered and put his arms around her. Dante was a little upset that she was being held and comforted by his father and not him, but he knew that the situation called for it so he remained silent and stayed where he was.

"I'm so sorry, Sparda!" she cried. "I wish I could change all of this! I wish I could make Vergil come back!"

She continued to shout numerous things as she cried for the broken family they were. He kept telling her it was okay and that he was fine but it didn't help. After a while, Sparda then lifted his hand off of her and it started to glow a light red. He then gently laid it down on her head and the moment it touched, she fell limp and her eyes shut.

"Hey!" Dante shouted and ran over. "What did you do?"

He then noticed that Claire was merely sleeping now, the tears still falling down her face. Eva came up shortly after and joined them, looking down at her now still form.

"Dante," came his father's voice.

"What?"

Sparda reached up and put his hand to Claire's face, wiping a few strands of her hair away. The movement was a reflection of fatherly love, as if she were his own daughter.

"I want you to promise me that you'll take care of this girl…and never let her get hurt."

He stared at him in confusion and a bit shocked at his deep words. Sparda then picked her up before turning around and handing her to Dante.

"She's truly an amazing and beautiful person," he then finished.

Dante nodded his head.

"I will Dad…I'd die for her."

**This was more of a filler in character personalities and family backgrounds kind of chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know any thoughts or comments! Thanks everyone : )**


	4. Musings

**Enjoy! (: D)**

Claire woke in a daze and completely confused for a moment until her eyes opened fully to see that she was in her room. She sat up and then noticed that she was also fully tucked into her bed. She had to admit that she was getting a bit annoyed at waking up without remembering much and in a different spot then when she blacked out. And how the heck did she black out this time? She could have swore she was with Sparda in their backyard and he was comforting her as she cried.

She then gave a frustrated sigh as the memories slowly flooded into her. Great, she had been bawling her face off in front of them. At the time she really couldn't help it. Now, after the fact, she was a little embarrassed at how easily she let her emotions go.

However, it was then that a sigh of content and a smile finally came from her when she knew that she was tucked in her bed because Dante had brought her no doubt. Looking around, though, she found that she was alone. She let out a sad noise upon this realization and this caused someone to give a laugh in amusement.

He hadn't left her completely. He was once again outside her house making sure she would be okay once she awoke. Actually, he had come to find that this was his new favorite thing. Mind you he made sure to look away when she was changing or something. Besides, she had always shut her curtains at that time. Otherwise, he liked to see her when she was by herself.

The sad sigh got him a smile because he knew his girlfriend was unhappy that he was gone. She then headed over to her desk and pulled out a red book before heading back to her bed and opening it to read. He wondered which book it was but knew right away when she put it down for a moment and lowered her head. The Bible. He remembered how spiritual of a person she was and how dedicated she was to the Scripture and her faith in Jesus Christ.

And so for a while he watched her read and every so often she would write some things down or look up in thought for a moment. Personally, he had never read, or touched for that matter, a Bible, and for obvious reasons, because he felt there was no point for him. Both him and his father reasoned that since he was born from a human and a demon, he was a demon no less and it was inevitable that he was to go to Hell when he died. However, he would never ever mention that to Claire if it were avoidable.

She had finished after about half an hour before saying another prayer and then putting her Bible on her nightstand. She reached over and got her phone and started to write a text. He smiled when the phone in his pocket started to buzz. He opened it up and read her message.

From: Babygirl

Sent: 8:30p.m.

Hey Babe. Where are you?

He laughed silently to himself and wrote back that he was at home just chilling and watching TV. He watched her read it with a smile before writing him another.

From: Babygirl

Sent: 8:32p.m.

I miss you. Come over for me please?

The simple statements from her warmed him every time and he replied back that he would be there right away. He really grinned from ear to ear when upon reading the text, she did a twirl of happiness and fell onto her bed. He loved her so much and was more and more surprised everyday how much she returned the feelings to a guy like him. After thinking he waited enough to make it seem like he did come from home, he jumped from the tree and landed on her balcony with a soft landing before opening the door.

She sat up when she heard the door open and smiled brightly. Her smile melted his heart and he let out a laugh when she got up and flung her arms around him. He wasted no time in putting his around her and burying his face in the crook of her neck, taking in her scent. There was something about it that was almost downright intoxicating to him. It was like the smell of rain mixed with flowers and it was enough to make him go nuts.

"Hi, Babygirl," he exhaled.

The movement sent a current of hot breath across her neck and she shivered with a smile.

"Did you miss me?" he whispered.

She pulled back and looked up at him with a smile.

"Dumb question."

He dipped down and gently kissed her before breaking it and resting his forehead against hers.

"You gonna be okay if I kiss you?"

He smiled when he felt her hands wrap around his neck and one hand played with his hair.

"I think I'm getting better at it," she smiled before he leaned forward and kissed her again.

It was gentle like the first one, and instead of suddenly deepening it, he slowly worked it into a passionate one. Though she did manage to stay on her feet longer than then usual, she soon felt her legs give out and in a flash of movement, Claire felt her back to her bed and Dante was hovering over her after breaking the kiss slowly.

"Well you did get better at it," he smiled.

She laughed as one of her hands played with the back of his hair while the other rested on his shoulder.

"I tried," she sighed in defeat. "But once again you just had to be you," she rolled her eyes.

He laughed and kissed her nose.

"Well sorry, Babygirl. I can't really help it."

Claire smiled and sat up slowly, him moving off of her and she sat cross-legged and gave him a smile and motioned for him to lay his head in her lap. He smiled and obliged happily and she cradled his head in her hands.

"Did I ever tell you how soft your hair is?" she ran a hand over the pure white strands.

"You could tell me more often," he grinned cheekily.

She glanced lovingly down at him and put her hand on his cheek and he placed one of his over hers.

"And I can't get enough of that color either," she continued to think out loud. "It's pretty sweet."

He merely remained silent and continued to watch her as she spoke.

"So what's with demons and white hair anyway?"

He shrugged.

"Actually I have no idea. Maybe you should ask my old man since we have it because of him."

She looked up a moment in thought.

"Yeah I think I'll do that."

"Does it bug you that much?" he asked with a laugh.

"Nope," she shook her head and looked back at him. "Just curious is all. And you can't blame me either."

She paused a moment.

"So…you gonna tell me why I woke up here?" she then asked.

He blinked up at her and she continued.

"Well…actually I do remember. I remember bawling my face off. Sometimes I wish I could control my emotions more," she said, actually quite embarrassed about how she had acted.

"It's okay," he replied. "We really love how much you care. Trust me."

She bit her lower lip at the comment but decided to let it pass.

"Well thanks for bringing me here afterward," she smiled again.

He reached up and gave her nose a flick.

"No problem."

She giggled a little and he felt himself smile bigger.

"So what have you been up to since then?" he asked, full knowing because he had been watching her.

"Not much really. I just did some reading in my Bible. I read Galatians. One of my favorites!" she said with joy.

He didn't comment on that, he chose to just stay silent.

"You should read with me sometime," she then said. "It would be a lot of fun."

There came a sudden knock on her door and the moment it opened, she found herself alone on her bed after a sudden gust of air, signifying Dante's quick escape.

"Claire?" her mom came in.

"Hi Mom," she smiled.

"You're back? I didn't see you come in?"

She bit her lower lip for a moment before laughing it off.

"Oh you know me. Sneaky sneaky," she laughed nervously.

Her mother let out a sigh before smiling.

"I guess so. Well I'm just here to say goodnight."

Claire smiled as she received a hug from her.

"Love you, Mom. Goodnight."

She smiled before slowly ducking out. Claire let out a sigh and looked around for Dante to see him land on her deck and make his way back in.

"That was close," he smiled with a sigh.

Claire laughed.

"You really are fast," she noted. "Good thing too. Don't need the parents to know I have you up here all by myself."

He sat on the bed next to her.

"Yeah…I know how you're dad can get about you."

She stood up with a nod.

"Yep. He can be pretty protective. So I guess it's a good thing he agreed to let me even date you," she turned back to him.

He stood up and folded his arms.

"Actually it was him who agreed to let **me** date you," he corrected. "And I know that he still watches me like a hawk."

Claire laughed and put her arms around him.

"You know," she then started, feeling him snake his arms around her waist. "You have been in your…what do you call it?"

"What?" he looked down at me. "…demi-form?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, you've been in it for a long time now…"

He let out a sigh.

"I know. And I don't plan on going back…unless you want me to?"

He felt her shake her head before pulling away from him and heading over to her mirror to brush her hair out.

"I love the real you."

He smiled at the comment.

"But what will everyone else think?" she then paused and turned back to him.

He looked down in thought.

"Well…I have been thinking about that a lot. I guess I could just try and convince everyone that I dyed my hair and stuff. But as for being a half-demon they can't know."

Claire stopped and turned back to him.

"I understand. I haven't told anyone either."

"I know you haven't," he assured. "Besides…I don't need you're parents to find out your dating a demon," he then laughed.

"Half," she corrected him. "Half of you is human too, Dante."

He fell silent with a smile.

"Hmm…I wonder how they would take that," she then said.

Despite his strong stature, Dante couldn't help but feel a slight shudder to the idea.

"Your father…would tear me apart."

She paused mid-stroke on her hair and then smiled.

"Yep…I can see a new volcano being put on the map after that one…but Dante," she turned to him fully. "You can't seriously be afraid of him."

"You have no idea," he said with a nervous glance out her windows. "I fight demons yeah. But I would sure as hell fight hoards of them any day over facing up to your old man."

"Seriously?" she laughed out the word in question.

"Claire I can't use swords or guns when dealing with humans…not to mention that man just might be my future father in-law."

"I guess that's true," she shrugged and then smiled. "I like the sound of that too."

"What?" he laughed. "Me going at it with your father?"

"No…the in-law part."

He smiled.

"Yeah…it does sound good doesn't it?"

She nodded.

"Claire Redgrave…I do like that," he tested the name.

"Wait…Redgrave…hold on a second," she turned to him. "What happened to Landon?"

"Oh," he rubbed his head with a laugh. "Yeah sorry. Forgot to mention that's my real last name."

"Of course you did," she sighed with a shake of her head. "Geez Babe. You're terrible. Anything else?"

"Nope…well not that I can think of right now," he folded his arms.

She started brushing her hair again.

"That is pretty cool though," she then said. "…Claire Redgrave."

He smiled.

"Sounds pretty damn kick a** actually."

He then ducked when she threw her brush at him.

"Watch the language," she said sternly.

He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Yes ma'am."

He picked up the brush and headed over to her, starting to brush her hair for her now. She traced back through their previous conversation and then thought of something with a laugh.

"You really bulked up with this true form of yours too, Dante. How you gonna explain that to everyone as well?"

"Steroids."

She laughed.

"You're ridiculous."

His smile grew a little.

"I thought it was a good reason," he then said.

"All right," she laughed after letting him brush her hair out a little longer. "Time for bed."

She headed over and flopped down on her bed with a content sigh.

"You're tired already?" he raised a brow. "You just woke up!"

"No…but I don't really have a choice," she looked at the time. "And I'm not gonna screw up my biological clock if I can help it."

He nodded and then smiled.

"Where's my goodbye kiss?"

She sat up and studied him for a moment.

"You're not leaving."

He blinked at her.

"What?"

"Stay with me tonight," she patted the space beside her.

He then got a smirk and she huffed.

"Pervert. Not if you're gonna be like that."

He then laughed and headed over to her, kicking off his shoes and taking off his jacket.

"We've never done this before," he turned back to her. "Some-what sleeping together?" he laughed a little.

She fell back to her pillow and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I don't want you to leave me right now…I don't feel safe with demons being out there."

She then sat up and looked at him very sternly.

"Am I going to have a problem with you, Dante?"

He grinned and shook his head with a laugh. He loved the idea of how Claire needed him near to feel safe. He also was very happy with the notion of holding her till she fell asleep. He was just going to stay outside her house to watch over her anyway, so this was a wonderful alternative.

He lifted up the covers and pulled her flush against him. She blushed at the contact, and the situation but quickly snuggled against him before he put the covers over them. He then wrapped his arms around her and sighed happily.

"I could get used to this," he whispered in her ear.

"I love you," she replied. "But I will kill you if you do anything," came her stern voice.

He nodded.

"I know that Claire. I promise to keep to myself."

"Good boy."

"Woof."

"Shut up," she said, though the word came out with a set of giggles. "You're ridiculous."

"And you're sleepy. So goodnight Babygirl."

"Goodnight Dante. I love you again."

"Love you too."

He didn't need to sleep, and he was never tired. But the combination of the warmth of the covers and the feeling of holding her close caused him to close his eyes in pure bliss before he slowly drifted off to sleep. And it was the first time he ever did so in his demi-form.

**This was some-what of another filler chapter. I hope that's okay! I had a lot of fun with them just having a funny conversation. Those two are really great together. Hope to get the action pouring out again soon. Please be patient with me. Thank you all and let me know your thoughts. God Bless!**


	5. Mistakes Are Made

**Enjoy and God Bless! : )**

Claire stirred the next morning when a few of the sun's rays peaked through her balcony drapes. She squinted against the contrast of light before fully opening her eyes. She gave a slight jump when she felt Dante's warm and rhythmic breathing into her hair and that was when she remembered he had stayed with her for the night. Slowly, as not to disturb him, she turned around in his arms and was met with the beautiful sight of his sleeping face below her as she propped up on her elbow.

He truly was gorgeous in his real form, and him sleeping next to her was no exception; not even close. Claire slowly reached up and touched his amazing platinum-streaked silver hair and once again noted how soft it was to the touch. He completely amazed her every time she was with him and she felt herself growing more and more in love with him every second he was by her side.

She slowly moved a few of his loose strands of hair from his eyes before she put her hand on his soft cheek and giggled silently when she saw him stir slightly but stay asleep. She then bent down and placed a soft kiss to his forehead. She constantly found herself amazed that his skin and hair was so soft to the touch! Forgive her, but she always thought that maybe demons would be…well…maybe a bit more rough around the edges or something. Staring down at him, she was also a bit surprised he hadn't woken up yet.

Well…she should have known. He was a half-demon and had super sharp senses after all. He had been awake the moment that Claire had stirred from his arms but he was thoroughly enjoying her little intimate actions. How did she know he was awake the whole time? Well when she pulled back from the small kiss she saw a smile grazed his lips and the next thing Claire knew, she was flipped over onto her back with him over her. He had his face buried in her neck, taking in her scent. He let out a long sigh in pleasure.

"Good morning," he said in a low voice.

She felt he blush creep on to her cheeks at the contact and the situation at hand.

"I wouldn't mind waking up every morning like this," he whispered and kissed her neck.

It sent shivers through her body and he let out a small laugh before pulling back and giving her a smile.

"Nice blush," he commented.

The action, of course, caused Claire's face to grow even redder and she frowned at him on how easily he could make her do that.

"Jerk."

He laughed and kissed the side of her face. Her face softened a bit and she smiled up at him.

"Thank you for staying with me," she then said.

He nuzzled her head with his.

"I enjoyed every minute of it."

Her smile faded when he finally bent down and kissed her gently. She let out a sigh and put her hands around his neck and pulled him down closer to her. His mouth formed into a smile and he slipped an arm under her back and lifted her up to him, making the her gasp in surprise.

"Dante…" she said breathlessly in between kisses.

He let out a small moan that ended in a slight laugh before he pulled back slowly and put a hand to her face.

"Okay," he said gently. "I'll stop."

"You think?" she reached up and flicked his nose. "I'm gonna suffocate. Not to mention we are in quite a compromising position right now."

"Hey it was your idea," he reminded her with a brow raised.

She huffed.

"I told you to control yourself didn't I?" she rose her own brow.

"I did," he put on an innocent face.

"Did is right," she poked a finger into his chest. "You just failed."

He merely laughed and reached down, lifting her up to him in a warm embrace. She let out a content hum at his warm touch and firm hold around her.

"I love you so much," she whispered.

He slowly fell to his back, keeping her in his arms and wrapping the blanket over them to add more warmth.

"I love you too, Babygirl."

Hearing that from him never ceased to melt her heart. Her grin spread further and she snuggled closer into him if it were possible.

Soon though, they had to break apart as he left for a moment while she dressed. He came back and put his arms around her and gave her another quick kiss, as if he just couldn't get enough of holding her that morning.

"What are you doing today?" Claire asked him.

He frowned.

"I have some things to take care of with my old man so I'll be busy all afternoon."

She felt her smile fade a little as well.

"Okay. Call me when you're free then?"

He nodded.

"You know I can't stay away from you for too long," he gave her a crooked smile.

She nodded with a slight tint in her cheeks and gave him a smile back.

"Me either, Dante."

He lifted her up to him in deep kiss that he took his time with, knowing they'd be a part for a while that day. Upon breaking it, he took her into a flush hug and took in her scent, as if to remember it while he was away from her. He finally pulled away and flashed her one last smile before heading out to her balcony and leaping out of sight.

She had changed into her running shorts and a shirt to go running around the lake. She got her iPod charged and headed out to her car and drove to the lake. She started at the small bait shop that was located by the beach house near the parking lots and entrance. She did some quick stretches before she started her running playlist on her iPod and headed out. It was at this time that she started to think about all that had happened since she found out the truth behind Dante's origins.

Instead of being terrified of the truth, that half of the blood that runs through his veins was demonic, Claire found herself more attracted to him. She found herself more secure in their relationship in the fact that he had revealed his deepest secret from her. The most peculiar thing that struck her rather speechless from time to time was the fact that he was so gentle and full of emotions that should be completely devoid because of his demon blood. Well maybe that was just an assumed stereotype but it just seemed like it should be the other way around no matter how much she spun it through her thoughts. Also, looking at his father was even more surprising becausee he had a love for a human woman, not to mention the whole human race, and he didn't have any human blood in him.

Her mind also wandered to when she had created that strange light and killed off all those demons. She hadn't really thought about it since it happened, and she was surprised that neither Sparda nor Dante had brought it up either. However, the reason for his absence from her for the time being was mainly focused on that.

Meanwhile, at the Redgrave house, Dante and his father were standing on the top floor balcony, looking out over the countryside and in deep discussion.

"It doesn't make any sense…no matter how many different ways I look at it," Sparda said with a distant look.

Dante finally said what he had been thinking for a while.

"She's not a demon too…is she?"

Sparda didn't even need to think about that, as he shook his head almost immediately.

"No. She's pure human, Dante."

"Then how could she do that?"

Sparda looked back at him.

"Do you remember what she did?" his father replied. "She destroyed all the demons around her without even touching them," he said with some surprise. "It was unbelievable."

"Can humans possess powers like that?" Dante ran a hand through his hair in question.

"No…so it really throws me for what exactly happened back there. Did she ever seem…well how to I word this," he paused mid-sentence for a moment. "…well did you ever sense anything different about her?"

His son shook his head.

"Nothing."

At finding they were at a complete loss he gave a seething noise and clenched his fist.

"Damnit this is bugging the hell out of me."

"We'll figure this out, Son," Sparda put a hand to his shoulder. "Just give it time."

Dante looked out over the landscape of the country and gave a sigh. Their quiet moment of thought was soon sharply interrupted when they both gave a shudder and shot their glances out to the distance.

"Demons," Sparda said quietly.

Then, Dante gave a shudder that he had grown to hate feeling. Ever since he had changed to his demi-form and kept it, he could sense when Claire was near or in danger and this was no exception. He couldn't really explain how or why he knew that either. The same thing was attributed to his father who could sense when Eva was in the same situation. Perhaps it was just a demon thing, who knows?

"Dad they're going to Claire!" he shouted before leaping off the room.

Sparda soon followed and they sprinted as hard as they could to get to her in time before it was too late.

Back at the lake, Claire had finished her third straight loop around and her body finally told her it was time for a break. She slowed to a stop and put her hands on her hips as she fell into a medium paced walk. She looked down at her watch to see that it was nearing 2 o'clock and so she was getting close to expecting a call from Dante by now. After she had walked till her breathing fell back to a some-what normal pace, she finally slowedd to a complete stop and leaned against a tree and did some leg stretches. By now, she had pulled off her head phones to free herself from the some-what pounding sound of fast paced music into her head. It was nice to hear the peaceful sounds of nature for a change.

It was finally then, that she got a cold shudder through her body. At first, she shook it off like it was nothing but then a thought passed by her. It felt almost exactly like the time when she felt the demons before they appeared. A small wave of fear fell over her as she continued to feel it. She glanced all about herself and didn't see or hear any of them.

When she completed her turn, her blood ran cold when her eyes fell upon three demons that stood in the clearing before her. They looked like demonic dogs with red glowing eyes. Their black fur spiked about their bodies but they were standing on two feet and had large claws on their hands.

"Looks like we found our late lunch," one of them said in a terrible voice.

Claire took a step back.

"Are you going to run?" one stepped forward.

"Dante…" she whispered hoarsely on instinct.

"Dante?" one of them repeated. "He won't save you this time."

They knew Dante…and they knew they were together? So they had come to her on purpose? The thoughts were thrown from her mind as she turned on her heels and sprinted as hard as she could. She pushed through some of the overgrown thickets on the path she just got done running. She turned back to see that they were taunting her by walking slowly after her instead of running.

"Dante…Dante!" she continued to shout as she ran for her life.

She ran as far and as hard as she could before her fatigue caught up to her and in the process of her tiredness, she fell to the ground and turned around to see that they were no further behind her then when she had started running.

She started to crawl away from them but in an instant they were standing in front of her. One of them rose up their hand and it glowed a bright red. He thrust his hand at her and she screamed the moment she felt a red spear-like object graze the side of her arm. It didn't go through it, though it dug deep enough to feel like it did. She looked down in horror to see that her arm was seeping blood from a some-what deep cut. She started to feel herself growing queasy from the blood-loss but she knew that she needed to try and get away.

So Claire shakily got to her feet and staggered a few steps but fell back to the ground and let out a cry of pain. She couldn't die like this…she couldn't! There was just no way it was going to be like this.

And like hell Dante was going to let that happen. The next thing that filled her vision was the sight of Dante and Sparda landing in front of her and wasting no time in slaying the three demons in a horrible way. Their bodies fell in pieces and covered the ground as blood sprayed all over before pooling and splashing to the ground. Their grotesque screams of agony echoed through the stillness of the air before all was once again silent with the sounds of birds and wind once again taking over.

As soon as he was done, Dante dropped his sword to his side and turned back to his girlfriend, a look of total fear fell over his beautiful features upon seeing Claire with her wounded arm. She stood up to reach him but he caught her as she stumbled and then she buried herself into his embrace and cried.

"Oh Dante! I was so scared!"

He looked down at her in terror and complete anguish of how close he just came to potentially losing her. Not to mention how horrid his stomach twisted upon seeing her wounded arm. Speaking of her arm, she then felt Sparda cleaning it as she clung to his son, before he took a cloth out and slowly wrapped it.

"I'm so sorry," came Dante's shaky voice. "I couldn't get to you in time."

She then felt him shaking and she wrapped her arms around him more.

"You did," Claire corrected him. "I'm alive because of you."

"No," she felt him shake his head. "It's because of me you were put in danger."

She felt him grip her tighter.

"I'm such a ****ing idiot for—"

"Shut up and watch your language," she interrupted him. "I'm still alive because of you. Nuff said."  
He let out a quick laugh but he didn't smile, though he was constantly finding himself amazed at who this girl he loved really was. She almost died and had a massive cut on her right arm but insisted it wasn't his fault…not to mention she was still correcting his language. He merely gathered her up into another embrace in the moment.

A few moments passed by. Claire stopped crying eventually, and he stopped shaking as much, though she could still feel some trembles every so often.

"Claire," Sparda started, looking down at her. "They came for you."

She surprised them both with her answer.

"I know."

"What?" Dante looked down at her.

"They said that you weren't going to save me this time…which means they knew about us."

"Did they say anything else?" Sparda pressed.

She shook her head.

"Claire," Dante then said. "We think it has something to do with what you did a while back."

Her mind went back to what she had also been thinking about while she was running.

"We haven't talked about it since then, but do you have any idea of what exactly you did?" he finished.

Again, she shook her head in silence and Dante gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"It's okay," he whispered.

Sparda watched them both with a fatherly love for how close they were, despite their differences. He loved how at least one of his sons was like him in kindness regardless of his demonic heritage. His eyes then turned back to the pile of demon limbs that laid beyond them and he gave a frown. Something was happening and it was very far from good. More demons had started to show up and now it seemed as though they were coming after Claire but there was no logical explanation for it.

Sparda's mind then flew back to when she had expelled that light from her person and killed all the demons around her. He then brought his glance back to Dante and her, and he looked at her arm. Then, he got a thought. The thought itself was a very farfetched theory but Sparda was a rather intellectual being and so most of his hunches and ideas were better than proven or tested hypothesis'.

"Claire…how did you hurt your arm?"

His sudden question caused both Dante and Claire to looked at him in question.

"…one of the demons fired a spear like thing at me and it grazed my arm," she said quietly, not wanting to think about it.

"So none of them actually touched you?"

"What are you getting at?" Dante said, a bit unhappy that he was asking her about all this right now.

He would much rather Claire rested first, she was in no condition for interrogation. At the same time, it seemed that all she was doing lately was resting! How many more times was his girlfriend gonna be bed-ridden anyway?

"No they didn't," she finally answered.

He paused and studied her for a moment.

"Dante, I know you're going to disagree…and maybe you too Claire…but could I get you to touch one of those demons for me?"

"What?" she blurted.

Dante's grip on her tightened.

"Old man…it's really not a good time for this crap," Dante took his dad for joking.

Sparda sighed at his son's stubbornness.

"I'm serious Dante. I have a theory I need to test. Claire?" he looked back at her.

She was very against the thought of going near those demons, much less actually touching one of them.

"…I…don't know if I can," she then said.

"Then you don't have to," Dante said right away.

Sparda smiled at Claire gently and sympathetically.

"I know you don't want to…and I won't make you. But I think I have an idea as to why these demons were after you."

She studied him for a moment before shakily starting to stand up. Dante helped er to her feet and kept his arms around her to keep her up. She slowly started to head over to the limbs of the demons and paused a few times the closer she got, but she eventually reached them nonetheless. She slowly bent down and hovered her hand over one of their arms for a moment before slowly touching it.

The moment her hand made contact, a bright white light flashed below her hand and soon, the entire pile of demon limbs glowed a bright white before dissipating into sparkles that floated into the air.

"What the hell?" Dante looked down at her, as well as Sparda.

She stared in shock at her own actions as well before she took a shaky step back before a fatigue fell over her and she fell backwards. Of course, Dante quickly caught her and lowered her slowly.

"Claire," he said quickly in concern.

She then seethed when a shot of pain went up her wounded arm. Dante gently put his hand over her wound before looking at his father in question and concern for her well-being.

"…it hurts," she winced.

That was all it took for Dante to make up his mind.

"I'm taking her to Mom. She'll be able to take care of this. We can figure what's going on later."

Before his father could protest, though he wasn't going to, Dante had shot off back to the house, making sure to jump and land as graceful as possible for her sake.

Claire was put in the guest bed where Eva tended to her wounds while Sparda and Dante retired to the balcony once more for another deep discussion.

"What the hell is going on?" Dante turned to his father.

Sparda shook his head and before sitting down on one of the chairs, resting his head in his hands.

"I don't know. It's seems as though demons can't touch her."

Dante stirred over the thought for a moment.

"Then how can we?"

Sparda hadn't exactly thought of that and it made a good point.

"I've never seen anything like this," his father stood up. "Humans can't have any sort of special powers…well I've never met one with them before so I'm at a complete loss."

They were spared having to say anything else when Eva came into their view from the open doors.

"She's fine. Got the wound all stitched up and cleaned. She wants to see you," she looked at Dante.

He nodded and swiftly left back inside. Eva watched him go before heading over to her husband and sitting next to him.

"What happened?" she put her hand on his.

He turned to her with a faint smile before it faded away.

"We're not quite sure ourselves."

Dante slowly opened the door to the guest room to see his girlfriend propped up against one too many pillows while she rested. Upon hearing the door shut, her eyes opened to see him beside her, carefully sitting on the bed.

"Hey," he said gently. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," she said, subtly moving her injured arm.

His eyes went to her arm and stayed there for a while, as thoughts from earlier came back to him. They sat there for a while in silence before he realized that she was shaking slightly.

"Cold?" he asked, and started to grab another blanket to put over her.

She shook her head, causing him to pause and look at her.

"I'm scared, Dante," he heard her voice shake.

The pain and fear in her voice twisted his stomach and he instantly had her in his embrace with one arm around her and the other holding the back of her head.

"I'm so sorry about what happened Claire," he started gently. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

She felt some tears starting to well up before they fell silently down her face, melting into the fabric of his shirt.

"The demons are after me…and that means they're coming after you too…and there's the problem with Vergil…and something's wrong with me."

Despite the situation he couldn't help but laugh and hug her tighter.

"Nothing's wrong with you," he rubbed her back.

She fell silent a moment longer and he just continued to gently rock her back and forth. He wasn't positive, but he was quite sure that a little over an hour had passed by with her being completely silent and he soon found that he had rocked her to , more likely, her fatigue had once again taken over her small frame. He lowered her down slowly and covered her up before calling his mother in to tend to her while he headed back out to talk with his father.

"This is more problematic now," Sparda started.

"How so?"

"How are we going to explain that wound to her parents?"

Dante froze in subtle fear; clearly he had completely forgotten about that. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Damnit…this just keeps getting better and better," he said with plenty of sarcasm.

So the plan was to keep her over night. Eva called her parents and told them that they had a few of their friends over and were having a get together so they didn't know that it was just Dante and her because they knew they would never approve of that. God knows what they would say if they found that Dante was paying constant visits to her every night now in her room, much less the fact that they had slept in the same bed last night. On top of all that they were also keeping the demon world a complete secret as well. So, there was plenty good reasons to lie so that her parent's didn't have a stroke or heart attack…or her father came to kill Dante personally.

The plan only took care of them until the morning would come where Claire would be delivered back to her parents eventually with a rather serious stitched up injury. Dante was concerned for her mental and physical well being while Sparda was concerned if any demons would come to their house in the night in search of her. And while thinking this, he wondered why in the hell she was suddenly a target and this lead to him pondering yet again about her mysterious and unexplainable powers. Needless to say, all the demons in the household pulled an all-nighter.

**Okay, no more fillers. I added more to each of these but they are basically building up the plot and giving more information about the characters. Next chapter is when we get some more suspenseful things and some interesting finds! Yay. Thanks for reading and let me know any thoughts or comments.**


	6. Morning

**Enjoy.**

Like most things that you don't want to come, morning arrived fast. Claire stirred a little later in the morning than usual and immediately felt the side of her bed move and opened her eyes to Dante leaning over her with concerned eyes. She smiled a little to how much he watched over her ever since he changed to his demi-form. Sure, he was always looking out for her when she knew him as a human, but now he had the ability to literally be by her side almost instantly, as travel was not an issue anymore. Also, he literally didn't need to sleep as much in this form so he was free to watch her all night. She stretched out a little and was a bit surprised when she felt no pain in her arm when every little movement seemed to make it hurt last night.

She refocused her eyes to fully take in her half-demon boyfriend and let out a sigh and sunk into the pillows and blankets, which she noted that there might have been too many.

"Morning," Claire said very softly.

He gave a faint smile and put his hand to her head, softly running it down to hold her cheek.

"Morning…how's you're arm?"

"It's really good actually," she put her hand over the bandages. "I don't feel any pain right now."

He nodded and rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"That's good. I'll go get Mother to change your bandages."

He got up and bent down, placing a soft kiss to her temple before leaving. Almost immediately, Eva came in, followed by Sparda and Dante again. Eva had a bucket of clean warm water and fresh bandages and placed them on the bedside table before sitting next to her on the bed.

"Dante says the arm feels good?" she asked with a smile.

She nodded.

"You did a really good job with it yesterday," she smiled to her.

Eva gave a soft motherly laugh.

"Thank you Dear. Hold still now."

She carefully removed the top layer of tape before slowly unwinding the fabric wrapped around her arm. Claire let her eyes wander to the window while she did and thought about how her parents were going to react when they saw this serious wound. She knw that her father was watching over Dante like a prison guard and she only assumed that he would be mad at him for letting her get hurt. She also wondered what story they would make up. Can't very well tell him she was attacked by demons. The truth would get Dante off he hook because it was him who saved her, but in reality…well she wasn't too sure how her parents would react to that. When Eva completely got the wrap off she stared in shock to see that Claire's arm was completely bare of any cut, blood, stitch, mark; nothing. It looked as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

"What the hell?" Dante shouted in surprise.

Claire also looked down in shock at how there seemed to be no signs that a wound of any such was ever there in the first place. This added to the list of bizarre things that seemed to keep happening about her and her breaths started to come out shakily as he turned to look at them.

"Why is this happening!" she shouted and buried her face in her hands. "What's going on!"

Her small frame shook as she tried to get a hold of herself but wasn't succeeding very well. She felt Dante's arms around her soon enough before she heard him tell his parent's to give them a moment. After hearing the door shut she looked up at him in utter confusion and spoke through her sobs and tears.

"What's going on Dante!"

He shook his head before putting it to hers.

"Claire I don't know…please try to calm down. I know it's hard."

Her breaths were coming out raspy and quick and he had broken out into a sweat while her body continued to tremble.

In a way, Dante felt worse than she did. He was scared of the unknown that was surrounding her and he felt helpless and unsure how to make her feel better. The last couple of days had brought nothing but hell for him and Claire. He wanted to punch the hell out of anything and everything. The anger was pooling inside of him because he seemed to constantly be failing at protecting her from whatever was happening.

Like each time, he was unable to calm her to the point of talking about it as fatigue engulfed her once again, casting her into slumber as she still clutched weakly at Dante's shirt. He bent down and covered her in his embrace, trying to calm his growing anger at the situation. All he could think of was how much pain he seemed to be putting her through, and all since he revealed his world to her. He had been more than fortunate for Claire to accept him, but he had a growing fear inside of him that she was soon going to break and want nothing more to do with him.

**I know, I know…Claire faints too much. Haha, oh well. Last filler chapter for a while. Big one coming up with lots of new happenings and excitement that I hope you'll love. As always, Read and Review! God Bless.**


	7. Within

**Enjoy and God Bless! : )**

Claire had gone home early the next morning after waking up early and telling Dante she wanted to go home and do some thinking by herself. He felt a growing pain inside of him that he fealt was threatening to tear him apart. Claire was not rejecting him, though he felt as though she was, regardless of how much assurance to him she offered.

And so he watched in pain as his girlfriend sat on her bed, hugging her legs to herself with her face hidden against them. He didn't know if she was crying or not, but he felt terrible either way. And like he thought, she was crying when she lifted her head up finally and wiped at her tears.

Anger gripped him because part of him knew that it was his fault Claire was in such pain at the moment. She was scared and confused at what was going, and he had no answers for her.

A moment later, her mother came in and asked her how she was since she hadn't seen her for the night. He saw Claire put on her best forced smile and tell her she was good. Her mother then offered to make some breakfast which she eagerly nodded and left her room. He jumped from a few trees until he was able to peer into the kitchen and dining room windows where he continued to watch her.

After a while of sitting at the table in silence, just staring out the window, her mom looked over at her daughter in concern.

"You okay, Honey? You seem quiet today."

Claire shook out of her silent staring contest with the sky and forced another smile for her mom.

"I'm fine. Just admiring nature," she lied.

She gave a smile and turned back to tending the eggs.

"So how's Devin?"

"Who?" she turned to her, blurting out the question before catching herself.

She turned back with a laugh.

"Devin…as in your boyfriend?"

"He's good," she said, turning back to the window in thought of how much she was keeping from her parent's about him.

Dante thought similar to the same thing when he saw Claire seemingly forget his old name and to hear it come from her mom.

"You sure you're okay?" she turned to face her fully.

"I'm fine," she said sincerely. "Just not that talkative this morning, I guess."

"Well that's a change."

They both turned to see her father come in from the living room.

"Did you have fun last night?" he asked his daughter before grabbing a cup of coffee and a kiss from his wife.

"Yeah," Claire nodded and started to think of a good lie about what she normally did when she was out with her friends.

"Oh you know…just watched a movie and ate a ton of unhealthy stuff."

He laughed and took a sip of his java.

"Yeah I bet you did. How's Devin?"

Claire once again noted that she was hiding a ton of information from her parents and gave a mental sigh. After that was over, she made sure to choose her words carefully. Her mother didn't, but her father seemed like he always had a hidden agenda when it came to her and her boyfriend. Strict wasn't the right word, there was a word somewhere in between that and completely uncaring but she had yet to find that.

"He's good," she answered, hoping that was all that would be discussed about him at the moment.

But she was never a lucky girl.

"Haven't seen him in a while."

The statement itself was waiting for an answer, there mine has well have been a "why's that?" tied to it. Yes, her father was a subtle digger. She understood why, she was their only child so it was just to be expected. It was his way of caring, regardless how she looked at it.

"He's just been busy."

"With what?"

"Just chilling with his friends and doing some fun summer stuff. Guy things."

"You two are always together," her father stood at the deck doors and looked out over the landscape of the rolling countryside.

"Yes, but it's nice to take a break every now and then right?" she shifted uncomfortably, hoping this conversation would be over soon.

"Yes I guess that's true."

He took another sip of coffee and headed into the kitchen, finally giving her a break.

"So what's for breakfast?" he asked her mom.  
Claire stood up and headed over to the deck.

"Let me know when the food's done. I'm gonna chill outside for a while."

"Okay, Honey," she smiled.

Dante made sure he was well hidden as he watched his girlfriend lean on her deck railing and give out a sigh. She cast her gaze up to the sky and kept it there for a while.

"Dante," she whispered.

His ears perked up upon hearing her talk about him and he listened intently.

"I hope you're doing okay."

His face softened to her words and he almost gave out a smile to how much Claire constantly thought and worried about his safety, regardless of how much she was going through. However, the other part of him hated it when she worried about him as much as she always did. Sometimes he wondered if it was healthy, or natural for that matter, for a person to worry that much; the same with caring that much.

Her mom called her back in and they ate breakfast together, talking about whatever, though Claire noticed she didn't mention Dante once, and her father just read the paper while they chatted.

Her mom was very keen on guessing things that were bothering her and she had gathered that he might be a problem for her daughter at the moment, so she avoided the topic. That was something Claire was so thankful for; she felt she had the best mom in the world. She retired to her room to do some Bible reading and praying about what was going on in her life shortly after she helped put the dishes away.

Dante realized that she prayed a bit longer than he was used to seeing her do and he once again felt bad for what she was going through.

Right after, Claire pulled out her phone and dialed a number before putting it up to her ear. Moments later, his phone went off in his pocket. He reached for it on impulse but stopped and stared at it a moment in thought. Then, deciding it would be better to give Claire a little more time away from him, he put it away. He watched as she ended the call and merely stared at her phone for a moment, not leaving a voicemail.

She gave out a sigh and fell back onto her bed, laying an arm over her eyes for a moment. She didn't have any plans left for the day and so she laid there for a rather long time, letting the minutes slowly pass by without care. She was slightly interrupted when her cat jumped up onto her bed and nudged his head against hers. The cat then sat down on Claire's stomach as he purred contently while looking at Claire.

"Samson," she laughed. "Did I ever tell you that you have a staring problem?"

The answer didn't come, as the half Persian, half Angora cat merely continued to look at his owner. Claire started to pet his white and gray streaked long hair while casting her gaze back up to the ceiling as she searched her thoughts about what was going on in her life at the moment. In the process, Claire dozed off a few times which made the time pass by faster. She brought her phone back into view and gave another sigh when she still hadn't heard from Dante. When a couple more hours passed by and it was now late afternoon, she decided to go to his house to see what was up.

He watched her as she got into her car and drove off. He leaped from tree to tree, and building-to-building, at the speed she was going and then soon found that her destination was his house once she turned down a particular gravel road. He was happy that she cared enough to figure out why he wasn't answering, but another part of him wanted Claire to just stay home because it was safer and he still wanted her to have a little more time away from him at the moment to just think; albeit that was all she had been doing all morning.

She parked in the spacious driveway and headed in without knocking. Claire actually insisted that she knocked first before entering, however Eva had strongly stated that she was a part of the family and didn't need to. So, she kicked off her shoes after shouting a hello to notify her presence. She was greeted with silence and so she headed through to find someone, hopefully Dante. She searched the bottom level through and then headed out to the garden to find Sparda bent down over some pretty pink and orange tulips. When the door shut behind her, the sound caused him to turn to her and he smiled.

"Claire," he stood up. "How are you?"

She headed over to him with an equal smile.

"Doing all right."

He then headed up and surprised her slightly with a rather fatherly hug.

"So what do I owe this pleasure?" he said and knelt back down to tend his flowers.

He constantly surprised her with his actions. He **was** a full demon after all. Maybe there are stereotypes with them, but it was just surprising to see him in such a gentle state, caring for flowers. If you had saw this man in his true form, demon and all, you would be questioning the place for floral care in his capacity as well.

"Oh I just stopped by to see Dante. Have you seen him?"

At this, Sparda looked over to a grouping of trees. Because of his heightened senses, he saw Dante perched there and was wondering why he hadn't come out, as he had been there for a while. Once Dante saw his father's eyes on him, he shot him a gesture that told Sparda that he wished to remain hidden. He gave an inward laugh at his son's spy-like intentions before turning back to Claire.

"Haven't seen him," he lied.

She gave a huff and sat down next to him, watching him as he worked.

"So how are you two doing?" he then asked as he pulled various weeds.

Claire laughed a little at how her parent's had just asked her the same thing. It was definitely a parent thing, she guessed.

"Really well…but I'm concerned about him right now."

The comment got Sparda to turn and look at her in a bit of surprise, and at that Dante listened intently.

"Really?" he began. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Well…you know I'm still a little freaked out about these mysterious…um… powers that I might have…" she mused that saying that sounded so odd. "…but I'm afraid I'm putting too much stress and pressure on him."

"How so?" he pressed.

"I mean how can't I be?" Claire looked at him. "He has to constantly save me…I feel like a helpless dead weight."

Dante was upset that his girlfriend felt that way, and Sparda could sense his son's tension from the distance.

"I don't think he feels like that," he said, now acting like Dante's voice in the conversation he was avoiding.

"I would."

He fell silent and watched her for a moment as she played with the grass at her feet.

"From what I can tell, he really loves you, Claire. I think he's extremely grateful that you've accepted him for he really is. Honestly I don't think anything else matters except that."

She twirled a few blades of grass around her pointer finger before looking back up at him.

"I hope you're right."

He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, once again showing fatherly affection that he had really grown to do often with her now.

"I know I am."

She finally showed a small smile and dropped her glance back to her hands.

"Thanks Sparda."

"You know I prefer Dad."

"Right," she laughed. "Note to self."

They fell silent for a moment as Claire continued to watch him plant new flowers and trim a few bushes.

"So do you mind me asking how you two met?" he said, wiping dirt on his work pants.

She was about to ask why he didn't know but then quickly remembered that he had been in Hell since then and had no contact with his family.

"It was about 4 years ago at the lake," she started, with a smile now permanently on her face.

— **Flashback —**

___"Dangit," Claire cursed herself over and over. "I'm such an idiot."_

_She looked down at her ankle in frustration. She had been running for a while and as she was her ankle had started to hurt but being the stubborn girl she was she had ignored it. Well lesson learned, because now she was afraid she had sprained it. Second problem, she was up at the highest peak of the lake and probably the furthest from people. And finally, she hadn't brought her phone. Well then, there are actually a few lessons learned here._

_ She slowly got positioned to test if walking was a possibility and the moment she put weight on it, she found that she had indeed sprained it when she had made the sharp turn around to head back down the ridge. Claire fell back to the ground with a sound of frustration and put her hands over her face._

_ "This sucks!" she exclaimed. "What do I do now?"_

_And so she laid out across the grass and looked out over the view before her as the clouds flew overhead. Hours passed by with no sign of anybody and Claire started to grow nervous and began contemplating actually making an attempt to walk down the long hill. She heard a twig snap behind her and looked to see a boy emerging from the trees, staring right at her._

_ "Hey!" she rolled over to see him right-side up. _

_He headed over to her as she spoke._

_ "Can I use your phone?" she said, assuming he had one on him._

_The moment they were able to fully see each other, they both thought the same thought of how beautiful the other was._

_ "Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down by her._

_ "Actually no," she gave a nervous laugh. "I sprained my ankle pretty bad."_

_At this he moved over and gently placed his hand on her leg and then the other he put on her ankle. Instead of feeling pain from the touch, she mused that it felt rather nice to have him touch it._

_ "Yeah it looks pretty bad," he said about the fact that it was starting to turn blue and purple. "Can you walk on it?"_

_Claire shook her head but attempted again regardless. She got to her knees and then put her good foot down and rose up on one foot and then slowly placed the other on the ground before shifting her weight to it. Like expected, the moment she did, she winced and fell only to be immediately caught by the boy and he lowered her to the ground. Her breath caught when she found their faces rather close together, both just staring at one another in wonder. The moment he saw the blush creep onto her face, he finally snapped from his reverie and looked away for a moment._

_ "Here," he said, lifting her up and holding her across his arms. "I'll carry you down."_

_ "What?" she said in surprise. "It's a long way down…I don't want to be a burden."_

_At this he smiled and looked back down at her._

_ "Who said you were a burden?"_

_Her blush came back and she then felt herself smile at his kindness. _

_ "Thank you…um?" Claire looked up at him expectantly for his name._

_ "It's Devin."_

_ "I'm Claire."_

_ "Claire…such a pretty name for such a pretty girl," he smiled again._

_Much to her surprise, he was able to carry her all the way down to the parking lot where he put her in her car and drove her to her house where her parents were able to take her off to the hospital to get it put into a cast and get her crutches._

_ Devin had gone with them because Claire wanted to thank him personally since she hadn't been able to get his address or anything to send him something. When she came out of the room she saw him talking with her parents about who knows what. Once they were outside he opened the door for her and she turned back to him with a little shyness._

_ "Thank you Devin…I mean it."_

_She was rewarded with that same genuine smile of his._

_ "It's really no problem at all Claire. I hope you heal fast. Take care," he turned and started to leave._

_ "Wait!" she said before she could stop herself._

_He paused and turned back to her with a slightly surprised expression._

_ "…will we see each other again?"_

_She felt the blush starting to creep onto her cheeks again. His faltered expression turned back into a soft and gentle smile and he headed up to her, after pulling out a piece of paper and writing something down on it. He took her hand and placed the paper into it._

_ "I was hoping we would."_

_Before Claire could look at the paper she gave a soft gasp when he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her cheek. He pulled away just as fast as he had kissed her and started walking away. He was out of sight before she snapped out of her reverie and got back into the car due to her parents nagging her to hurry up; obvious they had missed what just happened. Because otherwise, Claire was sure her father would have blown a blood vessel if he had noticed it._

_ She opened up the paper to see that it contained a few certain digits and she couldn't stop the smile that fell upon her face._

— **End Flashback —**

"And from there it's pretty much history," she said, smiling similar to the same like she did back then.

Sparda was also smiling when she had finished her story, and so was Dante from his perch in the tree. He remembered that day just as fondly as she did.

"I guess he can be a gentleman at times," he laughed. "But I think for the most part he's just a—"

Sparda was cut off when a gunshot ripped through the silence and he swiftly jumped out of its path. Claire gave a jump at the sudden actions and surprising sound before turning to see Dante landing gracefully not too far from them as he slowly put his gun back behind him on its holder.

"Watch your mouth, old man," he shot a glare at him.

His father laughed.

"What?" he then mock shrugged. "I was going to say that you are a well mannered and well behaved young man."

"My a**," he gave a 'humph' before turning to his girlfriend. "Hey Babygirl."

"You idiot!" she said, walking over and getting in his face.

He looked at her in surprise and question.

"First off, I've been calling you all day and you haven't been answering and you **always** answer," she pressed a finger to his chest.

"Babygirl, I was—"

"And second," she cut him off. "I told you to not shoot at your father! You need to respect him more," she continued to press her finger into his chest to emphasize her frustration at his recent behavior.

"You should listen to her more often you know," Sparda added.

"You be quiet!" Claire turned back to him. "You're not helping."

Sparda blinked at her in surprise and put his hands up in defeat and gave a nod.

"Yeah old man," Dante laughed.

She hit him on the arm.

"You have no room to talk. And stop calling him that!" she folded her arms.

He smiled and then moved in for a kiss from her but she put her finger to his lips, stopping him.

"No kisses until you tell me where you've been. I've been worried," she put her hands on her hips.

He gave a nervous laugh.

"Why would you be worried? It wasn't that long."

"Because this is the first time you've not answered your phone…and there's a ton of weird stuff going on…how can't I worry!" she threw her arms up in exclamation.

He merely gave his girlfriend a smile to which she dropped her arms with a sigh.

"You finished?" he asked, taking a step closer to her.

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes slightly.

"Sure…"

In an instant, he was holding her across his arms with a smile.

"Good. Cause we're off to the lake!" he said with mock giddiness.

Claire let out a sigh and gave him a light smack to the side of his head.

"You're dumb."

He laughed and took off, causing her to gasp slightly before adjusting and gripping him to make sure she wouldn't fall. Like she had gotten used to, the world flew by them as they leaped from tree to tree, landing at their spot in no time. She hopped down and took in the fresh summer breeze that swept past them and out over the distance. She let out a sigh and then turned back to see her demon boyfriend just smiling at her with his hands in his pockets.

"Well…mind if I ask what we are doing here?" she walked up to him.

"Just relaxing…I just figured it would be nice since we've had a bit of a rough last couple of days."

She nodded in agreement before plopping down to the grass, sprawled out like a bear rug. He joined her shortly after, sitting pretzel-style beside her head.

"A lot has happened since we've been here," she said, almost to herself as if he wasn't there at the moment.

He laughed a bit at the statement.

"The sad thing about that, is that it hasn't been long since we've been here at all."

She also shared a laugh at the statement, but silence fell over them slowly after. It was laughable at first, but what was going on wasn't comical. Claire closed her eyes and tuned her senses to the surrounding peaceful atmosphere. She heard Dante shift and lay out like she was beside her. Actually, she had really wanted to talk with him about some things she was pretty nervous and stressed over. However, at the same time, she was afraid to hear the answers. Nevertheless, the moment right now proved to be impeccable for just that.

So Claire sat up and stared down at her boyfriend, getting a small smile to grow on her lips to see his eyes closed with a very subtle smile on his own face. The wind was very gentle, almost non-existent at the moment, but his hair flowed about his head as if gravity did not affect it. There was something otherworldly about his hair that got her every time. It was too soft…really she had never felt anything like it. Saying it was like silk was an insult to it's true nature, and the color was so contrasting. A pure silver dashed with platinum and pure white that seemed to have it's own glow, regardless of the amount of light in the area. Her fingers twitched and she laughed inwardly at how much she wanted to touch it.

His deep laugh caused her to look at him again.

"How long do you plan to stare at me young lady?"

A blush crept onto her cheeks and she gave a some-what stubborn frown.

"You and your demon senses."

He laughed again and opened one ice-blue eye, giving her his famous crooked grin.

"Well you should know there's nothing I can do about those…hmm perhaps you were thinking perverted thoughts?"

Her blush got even bigger and she finally looked away. He laughed again, causing her to pick a nearby dandelion and throw it at his face, only to have him catch it with his eyes once again closed.

"You know what?" she said with a slight tinge of annoyance, "you're such a show-off."

She felt a sudden gust of wind and then found herself to the ground with him hovering over her, the same crooked-grin unchanged on his face.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But now I'd like to change the subject for a moment. Then we can get back to how great I am."

She rose a brow at him.

"You're an idiot."

He smiled wider.

"Anyway, where's my kiss? I haven't gotten one from you yet."

"Do you really think you deserve one today? You've been pretty devious," she smiled.

His smile finally gave way to a frown.

"Oh come on…don't be like that."

He moved down for a kiss but she put her hand over his mouth and he gave a sound of surprise and opened his eyes.

"I'm not kidding young man," she winked at him.

He frowned again and sat up, her getting up as well.

"You're mean," he said in a slight pouty voice.

She giggled.

"I think you'll live…from what I've gathered so far, you're pretty hard to kill."

They both let themselves laugh at that last statement. He shifted his position suddenly and fell so his head landed in her lap. She smiled faintly and laid her hand on top his head.

"Well I'll just take what I can get then," he sighed out the statement.

Claire's hand gently massaged the hair she had wanted to touch so much earlier. In the process, she let her mind drift back to the fact that she still had lingering questions she needed to ask. Moments passed by and Claire's face must have shown she was deep in thought because Dante noticed she seemed distant.

"Everything okay, Claire?"

She brought her eyes from the view of the lake below down to him to see his brows furrowed in concern. She pressed her lips together in a smile and then gave a soft shake of her head.

"Actually I have some things I have to ask you."

At this, he sat up and gave her his full attention. Actually, she just stared at him at first. She didn't want to sound like she was afraid so that it wouldn't make him worry. Part of her was a little afraid, but the other part was just curious. It was best to just ask and get it over with.

"Am I a demon too?"

"No."

She was surprised at how fast he answered so she just stared.

"Actually I asked my old man the same question…but no, you're human Claire."

"How can you tell?"

"We would have been able to sense it…it's just a demon thing," he shrugged with a smile.

She nodded.

"So what are these…powers I have?"

He ran a hand through his silver locks.

"Well I'm not too certain myself. My dad and I have been discussing this a lot lately and we can't think of any explanations for it."

Explanations were cut short however. Claire felt a shiver and looked to Dante to see his eyes transfixed on something in the distance that, to her, was not there. He stood up without a word and then finally looked at her, offering a hand to help her up.

"Dante…" she paused. "…what is it? Is it more demons?"

He nodded and then opened his hand up, his sword flying into it from the ground like always.

"I want you to go over there by the forest entrance okay?" he turned to her.

She nodded and hurried over her directed area.

They came like wildfire, spreading out across the sky in random patches. There were a lot more than she thought would appear at once. Dozens of demons of different shapes and sizes flooded through the air straight to her demonic boyfriend, who stood ready with sword and guns, unmoved by their masses.

He jumped high, straight into the middle of their frontline and the thrashings began. Legs and arms fell like a grotesque rain, much like she was used to. The sprays and mists of blood showered all about Dante as he plowed through them like nothing. Claire could almost stifle a nerving laugh at how used to this she was by now. She was merely standing there, mentally cheering Dante on like it was some sort of sport or competition. She could hardly say that a couple days earlier.

Their pained and horrid shrieks filled the still country air and Dante slowly chiseled down their numbers till there were about a handful left. Quite suddenly, though, more demons started to appear on the horizon, replacing their fallen comrades as if they never died.

"Damnit," Dante growled, slicing his sword through another demon torso. "Where the hell are they coming from?"

So he continued to work through the masses, repeating strokes of his sword and shots from his guns. He was sharply pulled to a dead stop only moments later. His sword sliced through another demon, but it was a different scream he heard, and he recognized it right away.

Turning around, and his thoughts confirmed, he saw her backing away from none other than his brother.

"You leave her alone!" he shouted, lunging forward towards him at break-neck speeds.

Vergil vanished immediately, and reappeared behind Claire, holding his samurai-styled sword up to her throat. She froze and felt the chills magnify within her a million fold from his presence being so close to hers.

They were the same, Dante and Vergil. They were brothers who shared the exact same blood. But their presences were very different. She felt nothing but fear and anguish around Vergil that she had never felt with Dante. Every time he was around she felt as though she was bitten by a snake. It was just a feeling of venom going through her veins. She could barely breathe and she felt a tremendous pressure pushing all parts of her down.

"Sorry to interrupt," he laughed out the statement.

The demons that Dante had yet to kill off all gathered around them by now, forming a circle like kids at a school for a fight.

"Vergil…I swear to God if you lay a hand on her I'll kill you!"

The statement only increased his brother's evil smile.

"You will? Honestly I don't think you have it in you little brother."

Claire's eyes looked down to see Vergil's blade hovering scarily close to her neck.

"You fell for a human…like our damn father did," he pushed out the words through gritted teeth. "And so like him you're now weak."

"Look, I don't give a damn about your personal judgment," Dante said, trying to keep his anger in check. "But it doesn't involve her. Let her go and then we'll let our swords do the talking," he finished, looking at Claire in worry.

"Oh but it does," he said, taking another step closer to her, keeping blade in the same spot. "Because I'm gonna use her to show you the real power you have."

Dante's expression faltered to one of confusion.

"Vergil you don't have to do this."

Both Dante and him shot their expressions to her after the sudden statement. This angered Vergil, though he bore a smile.

"A human telling me what to do…I hate that!"

He rose his hand to smack her and the moment he got close to her, there was a sudden white burst of light that shot his hand away and let it somewhat smoking. Dante, who was moving forward the moment he saw Vergil's attempt to hit Claire, stopped dead in his tracks.

"What the hell?" Vergil took a step back, looking from his hand and then to Claire.

It was then that his mind flew back to the last time he saw her and how the hoard of demons he sent at her were destroyed after she emitted the strange light she just did.

"What the hell are you?" he then said.

In his anger, he stupidly attempted to grab Claire by her neck, causing his hand to once again get zapped back when he got close to her.

"Damnit!" he shouted. "Are you a demon too?"

He had taken a few steps back from her and she took that moment to attempt to run, only to immediately feel her body stop unwillingly, as if she were paralyzed standing up.

"I don't have to be touching you to hold you in place," came Vergil's cold voice from behind her.

"Leave her alone damnit!" Dante said, taking another step forward.

Vergil waved his hand forward, and the demons surrounding them all shot towards Dante.

"That will keep him busy for a moment."

He walked around to her front and looked at her with an unreadable expression. He pulled out his sword and looked it over while he spoke.

"No…you're human…so why the hell do you have these strange powers?"

She could feel her heart pounding louder and her breathing come in raspy breaths as she looked at Dante fighting off the demons, and wondering what Vergil was going to do to her. He lifted his sword up to her and slowly, in a testing manner, moved it closer to her arm to where it finally made contact, without him getting a shock this time. Claire was now scared because of that and the evil grin he now bore.

"Well this is interesting."

By now, Dante had once again destroyed the demonic hoard and was back to staring down his brother.

"Dante, guess what?" he said in a mock-surprised voice. "It turns out you're girlfriend isn't invincible after all."

"Now what the hell are you going on about?" he raised his sword to him.

"Now hold on a second…you were always impatient. I told you I had a use for her."

While Vergil wasn't close to her, Dante shot forward, only to clash swords with his brother and get shot back, dragging across the ground.

"Dante!"

Claire was stopped in her pursuit to get to him when Vergil used his power to freeze her once more, and then his sword was poised to her side.

"Dante," he called to him. "I need you to get up and see this…this is for you after all. Hate to see you miss it."

Dante got up slowly, using his sword as a cane for a moment.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about you son of a b****," he scowled.

"Well then let me explain—"

"Vergil!"

They turned to see Sparda land beside Dante, sword in hand.

"Took you long enough old man!" exclaimed Dante.

"Shut up Dante," he ignored him and moved a few steps towards his other son. "Leave her alone Vergil. She has nothing to do with this!"

Vergil laughed.

"Now you see that is where you are wrong," he started. "Because she has everything to do with this."

For once, the reply he got was silence and so he continued.

"Father I already gave up on you. You chose to marry a human…and so that was the death of your prominence as a demon, and quite frankly you destroyed your family's name."

"Shut the hell up you bastard!" Dante started for him but was stopped by his dad.

"So what does Claire have to do with that?" Sparda asked.

"Only through her can Dante realized his true potential, and not go down the same stupid path that you have."

Dante spit out his words.

"You're not gonna recruit me you a**hole. Let Claire go!"

"The beautiful thing about that, is that I can get you to regardless of whether or not you want to."

Something clicked with Sparda and he immediately became stern.

"Vergil, don't."

Dante turned to his dad.

"Don't what? What's he gonna do?"

Vergil smiled.

"So you know. I wondered when you would catch on."

"Dante get out of here," Sparda turned back to him, giving him a push to go.

"What the hell Dad! What is it?" he shouted.

"Just get the hell out of here, Son!"

"Like hell! I'm not leaving unless Claire is coming with me!"

A gunshot echoed throughout the still air, catching the two's attention back to Vergil.

"Glad I could get your attention. And contrary to that Sparda, Dante is gonna be staying right here. So…"

He walked up to Claire and positioned his sword vertically against her arm.

"You son of a b****!" Dante shot towards him, only to be knocked back sharply by Sparda.

"I told you to get the hell out of here!" he shouted.

"What the **** is wrong with you Dad!" he said, getting back up. "Don't tell me you're with him for God's sake!"

"Dante," Vergil started. "I'm gonna need you to pay attention now."

With nothing further said, Vergil thrust the sword straight down. The sword cut a straight line through the skin, parting the sides like Moses parting the Red Sea. The blood shot up just like her scream, which pierced the air like an arrow. Dante streaked towards Claire as she fell to the ground in agonizing pain. Vergil drew his sword quickly enough then, to slice another wound on Claire's other arm and then strike Dante's sword away and stab him through is torso. He then removed his sword and kicked him back before clashing with Sparda who also came at him.

Dante looked up to see his beloved Claire rolling around the ground in excruciating pain, gripping at her arm wounds as her face flooded with tears. He gripped at his new wound and got back up to see his father get shot past him to the ground. The brother's clashes swords once again.

"Take a good look at her," Vergil laughed. "She looks like she's in a lot of pain, doesn't she!"

Vergil once again stuck Dante through with his sword, as Dante was more focused on Claire's condition. Adding to the injury, Vergil pulled out one of his guns and put four shots around the stab before pulling out and kicking the wound, sending him back once more. Like repetition, Sparda then shot forward and took to Vergil again. Sparda was concerned for Claire, but even more so for Dante; he had no idea when he was going to snap and let his demon side take over. This was exactly what Vergil was planning, though Dante had no clue.

As the sounds of swords clashing echoed in Dante's ears, he rolled over and found his eyes focused on his girlfriend. She was rocking back and forth, still gripping at her arms as the blood stained her body and the ground beneath her. Quite by chance, she rolled and found her eyes focused on Dante's. Her eyes were bloodshot and beyond soaked and puffy with tears.

Personally, if she would have known the effect she was going to have on her next actions, she never would have done them. She reached out a wavering hand to Dante and said in a terribly shaky and pained voice, "Help me…"

Everything in Dante's world shattered at that moment. His mind went blank and his heart seemingly stopped, breath hitching in his throat. Accompanying that, a red aura outlined his figure. He stabbed his sword into the ground and lifted himself to his feet, his hair and clothes flowing as energy seemingly built around him.

"Dante no!" Sparda said in fear of knowing what was happening.

Vergil laughed victoriously.

"Sorry daddy," he laughed. "Dante's not there anymore!"

"Vergil why are you doing this!" he thrust him back.

"Because we are demons!" he shouted. "Demons who are meant to rule this world. But because you're too soft to do it I needed to recruit my brother. And the only way to do that was to rid him of his damned human weakness!"

They both turned to Dante to see that now his eyes bore dark red glows while his fangs ground out and his nails as well. His muscles bulged, cutting through his shirt till it fell off. He was now feral and in his full demonic form with no trace of human common sense to hold him back.

Claire, despite her stinging injuries and loss of blood, focused her eyes in fear of what was happening to her boyfriend. She then caught sight of Sparda rushing towards him, sword sheathed to his back while Vergil was shouting something about Dante never coming back.

"Son get a hold of yourself. You have to calm down," he gripped Dante's shoulders.

Claire gave a shocked gasp when Dante thrust at his father, crashing him to the ground. They rolled around a few times before jumping up and getting into rapid fast hand to hand combat.

Claire gave a gasp when Vergil landed next to her and knelt down beside her.

"You…what did you…" she barely managed out.

"I made him perfect. He doesn't have his human side to slow him down anymore," he said simply.

He then looked down at her.

"So really, he doesn't know who you are anymore."

Claire was having a hard time processing everything that was going on, and having two potential life-threatening injuries wasn't helping her at all.

"He was perfect," she attempted the exclamation, only to subtly choke it out.

"He was flawed," he corrected.

"You're the same…as he is!" she finally managed to shout, though she flinched in pain.

Vergil's cocky grin disappeared at her statement.

"What the hell do you know!" he shouted, standing now.

He rose his sword up once again reading to deliver the final strike by piercing her through her heart.

"Claire!" Sparda shouted between dodging his son's fierce thrusts.

Vergil rose it up.

"I don't need you anymore…thanks for helping though."

Without any thought, more instinct-driven, with her actions, Claire thrust her hand up towards him in defense of his sword coming at her. Her hand erupted with her now famous white light, exploding out like a rocket and engulfing Vergil completely. He let out a shout of shock and pain as he was sent spiraling across the ground. Claire almost passed out in exhaustion then, her vision continually blurring as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on. She could almost laugh at how she had gotten so used to these strange powers of hers that it was no shock at what she just did. Another part was that she was more concerned about what was happening with Dante.

"…damn you!" Vergil got up, though hunched over slightly from the blow.

He finally took his leave from the scene and Claire was able to focus what little energy she had left to the fight between father and son. At some point, Sparda had drawn his sword and placed it parallel in front of him as Dante thrust fists and claws into it.

"Dante…please stop," Claire said, more to herself, as she began to crawl over to them.

Really it was a ridiculous idea. What could she possibly do at this time and in her condition. It could be argued that she had lost so much blood and was so confused she wasn't thinking sanely at the time. However, her body seemed to be acting on it's own. Miraculously, she was soon on her feet, though very unsteadily and hunched over as she continued slow steps towards the demonic duo. Quite by chance, Sparda saw Claire coming towards them.

"Stay back, Claire! He's too dangerous right now!"

She paused, replaying the statement in her mind and she remembered what Vergil said. Sure, there was something wrong with him, but did it really mean that Dante wouldn't recognize her. She then thought why not, since he seemingly didn't even recognize his own father. Sparda caught his son off guard and delivered a blow with his sword, swinging it into him with it's sharp side away (like a bat) smacking him back and across the ground.

"No…please stop," Claire reached out subconsciously, and was caught by Sparda who shot towards her.

"Claire we have to get you out of here," he said.

"No," she managed. "What's wrong with Dante?"

"His demon side had taken over completely…he's too dangerous to be around right now…I need to get you out of here."

"And just leave him…alone?" she breathed out her words. "…we can't do that," she shook her head in pain.

Dante finally got up and focused his eyes on Claire, and much to her shock, there was no sign of realization or change in his attitude. Never in her life had he ever looked upon her with such contempt. He then started to slowly make his way back over to them, taking slow and horrid steps.

Just like Dante had a breaking point, so did Claire, but it was completely like her body was acting on it's own. Surprisingly, she shot out of Sparda's hold and threw herself flush against him. He stared down at her in surprise a moment before putting his hands on her back and digging his long nails into her skin. She let out a scream of pain but fought through it.

"Claire get away from there! You'll be killed!"

"I love you," came her small voice. "Dante I love you…please come back."

He started to grip her tighter, even dragging his nails, creating terrible streaks of blood that soaked through her shirt.

"I know you're still there, Dante!" she screamed. "Please come back to me!"

With that, she reached around, embracing him and pulling him flush against her. The moment her body was pulled to his, her powers kicked in with a bright flash erupting form where their hearts touched and encasing them both in a pure white glow. Slowly, his nails were removed from her skin and they shrunk back to normal size, his muscles went down and his teeth returned to normal. The last thing was his eyes losing their glow.

"…for me…please…"

Her soft voice reached his ears then, and he looked down, completely shocked at what he saw. Her body started to fall from his and he caught her immediately and lowered her to the ground.

"Claire…Claire what the hell!" he said in absolutely horror and shock. "What happened to you!"

She was breathing heavily and managed to open her eyes and look at him. He removed his hand from her back when it became damp and he was scared to find it soaked with blood. He brought her forward and his eyes fell upon her disgustingly scarred and scratched backside.

"Who did this…Claire who…"

He trailed off when he saw the two long vertical cuts on her arms and his mind paused for a moment before he remembered Vergil cutting her and then he remembered nothing after that. But why, he couldn't think of that.

"It was Vergil wasn't it! That bastard where is he!" he shouted and looked up, pausing when he saw his father kneeling down beside him with a look of sorrow on his features.

"We need to get her to a hospital, Dante."

"You were here?" he suddenly got angry. "How could you let Vergil do this to her?"

Sparda's look of sorrow worsened.

"…don't Sparda…it wasn't his fault," came Claire's weakening voice.

Dante put his hand to her face and massaged her cheek with his thumb.

"What…what is she talking about?" he looked back up at his father.

"Now is not the time Dante!" his father then said in some anger. "She needs immediate medical attention now."

"…I'm fine," she managed a laugh. "You're both…hurt too."

Dante managed out a laugh at her stubbornness but a smile wasn't there to assist it. Many plans changed on the short trip, they thought, was to a hospital for Claire. While they were traveling, Dante and Sparda noticed that her wounds were healing extremely fast, just like the way they did the first time she was injured. Claire even started to insist she was fine and she was taken back to their home where she was delivered to Eva who took her up to the guest bedroom to care for her.

This left Sparda and a still confused Dante alone once again to talk about what was going on.

"So when are you gonna tell me what happened?"

"Because you don't want to hear it," Sparda said simply.

Dante got angry.

"Why the hell would I be asking then!" he clenched his fist. "Don't tell me you're trying to protect Vergil."

He shook his head and then looked at him with the most serious expression Dante could remember.

"I'm trying to protect you."

Speechlessness fell over Dante for a moment as he simply stared at his father before going ahead and asking anyway.

"Why would you be protecting me?"

Sparda turned away with tremendous unease and stress upon his features. He leaned on the balcony railing and let out a long an heavy sigh before turning back to his youngest son in that same sadness he was showing all evening.

"Because you were the one who did it to her."

**Sorry isn't good enough but it's the only thing I can say. I don't even want to know how long it has been since I updated this so the least I could do was promise you a long chapter. I am done with school and finals and that was the main reason for the delayed update. I'll try and get back to systematic updates but I am also working on other promised stories and my first novel so please be patient with me. I hope you enjoyed this chappy. Please read and review! Thanks everyone.**


	8. Broken

**xxxxxxxx**

Eva simply stared in utter disbelief once again as Claire's wounds had completely disappeared right before her eyes. When she was brought in to her, her wounds were bad, though Sparda said they were much worse. Between turning away and getting up to get various items like fresh water and antibiotics, she came back to smaller and smaller wounds and then they were just gone. While Eva was shocked, Claire was just laughing it off, though Eva could tell she was a bit nerved herself, albeit not showing it. It was quite the major turn around from how she was when it first happened. Maybe she really was getting used to it…or losing sanity slowly, bit by bit.

Having become unnecessary, Eva removed all the bandages and washed off the ointments she had applied to the now bare and flawless skin, where scars and permanent indents once threatened.

"I'm fine, Eva. I promise," Claire smiled with a laugh. "Got to admit whatever I've got that's doing this…well it's pretty handy!"

"Oh Claire," Eva said softly, more to herself, as she watched her leave the room. "You're just acting strong," she finished in a whisper.

While this was going on, Dante was just staring at his dad, not quite sure if he had heard that statement right or not. The combination of his silence and quizzical look, told Sparda he hadn't quite grasped what he just said.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that son…but it's true. Vergil caused your demon side to fully take over your body, leaving no room for human reasoning and when Claire tried to bring you back…"

He trailed off, seeing the reaction on his son's face told him that he finally had grasped it. He actually started to shake slightly as he stuttered over words that Sparda couldn't comprehend at first.

"I…I couldn't…"

He looked at his father for any signs that he was right, only to have his hopes destroyed when Sparda merely shook his head sadly. He could feel himself falling into despair. He was a true monster, a hypocrite. He promised her he would never let anyone harm her. And now, from what he had gathered, he had almost taken her life! He backed up until he was against the balcony railing, now holding his head in his hands. She truly must hate him now. He had been fortunate this far for her patience and forgiveness but this was too far. How could she even feel safe around him now anyway? Not to mention all he was doing was constantly putting her through hell. She had to be afraid of him, hate him. There was just no other way to look at it.

"I can't believe this!" he all but screamed.

The moment he let that out was the moment Claire had left the guest room. She heard his shout, though not the words.

"Dante," Claire said quickly, and rushed to find him.

Contrary to what Dante thought, Claire was not in the least bit afraid of him. She had completely understood that it was not him that hurt her. If you want to be technical, yes it was his body, but his mind that she loved was not there. Pushing that aside, she was worried about him. She had no clue what he was going through after the ordeal and she needed to find him.

And so she did. Turning the corner she saw him on the balcony with his head in his hands, muttering too many things at once for her to catch. Quite frankly, he looked like he was going through complete hell. She rushed towards him and then stopped in the window when he looked up and finally saw her. His eyes grew wide and Claire gave an inaudible gasp when she saw him start to shake and take a few steps back away from her.

"C-Claire I'm so sorry," he shook his head, continuing to move back.

"Dante…what's wrong?" she asked and started for him.

"Stop!"

She halted immediately.

"Don't come any closer to me…stay away."

"Dante calm down," Sparda put his hands up, hoping to achieve his command.

"Claire I'm so sorry," he shook his head, now against the railing.

"Dante it wasn't your fault!" she said, now starting to get scared at how he was acting.

A small silence loomed before Claire took another step forward, which caused her boyfriend to then jump onto the railing.

"No Claire…it was. That was me. That monster lives inside me…and he almost killed you!"

"That's not—"

"I've caused you nothing but trouble…almost killed you!"

He seemingly had lost all control with the situation by now.

"I'm not good for you Claire…but I will always love you," he forced a shattered smile to her.

Her body felt cold to that statement. The translated sentence of that meant he was breaking up with her. Even though she understood that, she still had to repeat it in question.

"Are you…breaking up with me?" she said, almost too soft to hear.

"I'm so sorry Claire," he shook his head before turning and jumping.

Losing control she ran after him, almost making the jump over the railing if not for Sparda who quickly grabbed her from around her waist.

"Dante no!" she almost screamed. "Stop! I forgive you! I do!"

"Claire you can't jump off!" Sparda said in a realistic tone, saying he couldn't believe she even thought of doing that.

"I do!" she continued to shout as Sparda did his best to bring her back away from the railing where she finally collapsed. He caught her and lowered her to the ground as she clung to him like a small lost child.

"I forgive him Sparda…I do," she sobbed into his shoulder.

He closed his eyes in sympathy, putting a hand atop her head.

"I know you do Claire…I know."

Eva wiped away tears as she stood in the doorway, having seen everything the moment Dante told her not to come closer.

Eventually, though no completely, she calmed down some. Her tears mostly cleared up except for the occasional loner that fell. Eva and Sparda moved her into the kitchen where they insisted she eat something or drink at least but she refused.

"I better get going," she then said, getting up. "See you around…"

"Claire it's—"

Eva was stopped when Sparda put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. The sound of the door shut behind her and then her car drove into the distance.

"She needs to be alone for a while," he insisted.

"…that's what I'm afraid of…I mean, did Dante really mean that?"  
"I don't know. He sounded serious but maybe the moment was just getting to him."

"I hope so," she drew close to her husband. "…because whether or not they can see it right now…" she trailed off and looked up at him.

He nodded, reading her.

"They need each other."

**Please read and review! I have to know if you guys are still out there reading this or not. New developments oh boy! Hey, at least Claire didn't faint that time right?**


	9. After

**Enjoy and God Bless! : )**

She had been lying on her bed for hours after she woke up. The day was slipping by slowly and she wanted to do nothing but continue to stay in her room. She was safe there anyway. If she left she would have to face the world again, which seemed to be constantly spitting in her face right now.

It was a day after the incident of Dante and her apparent break-up. It was hard to stop the tears on the drive home, even harder still to pretend she was fine when she got back. Her parents sensed something was amiss but she merely forced a smile and quickly went up and locked herself away from them and everything else. Her eyes moved to her window for a moment before they shut and she said many long, jumbled, and silent prayers. She hated herself so much for falling apart like she was over a boy. She always thought herself to be a strong willed person but apparently she might have to reconsider that thought.

Without wanting to, she slowly drifted in and out of consciousness. Noises from the outside world brought her back from time to time, and the occasional noise her parents made from downstairs helped too. Her phone then went off and she shot up, her lifeless demeanor suddenly gone, and grabbed her phone with hope that it was a certain half-demon.

She felt both extremely deflated and stupid to see it was her friend Jordan Reese.

"Of course it's not him, you idiot," she scolded herself.

She let out a heavy sigh and did her best to sound sincere when she answered.

"Claire? Geez girl long time no see!"

She actually did get a smile real smile to graze her lips a moment at hearing Jordan's exclamation.

"Yeah, it really is," she laughed slightly.

"What are you up to? Got any plans tonight?"

She remained silent and her eyes wandered back outside. She shifted her position, bringing a leg up to her and resting her chin on it.

"No."

"The girls and I are getting together and figured that it's been so long since we've seen you that we're pretty sure it's illegal!"

A small laugh escaped her and she shook her head.

"Maybe that's true."

"Oh it is. Devin needs to stop holding you hostage from us!"

Jordan's statement stung her friend more than she would know. Silence reigned over the phone from both sides as Claire shut her eyes. As if she was trying to make every memory of Dante disappear for good.

"You okay bud?" Jordan laughed a bit nervously. "You're unusually quiet."

She fell back to her bed with an inward sigh.

"Yeah I'm fine. Sure…let's do something tonight. Count me in."

"Oh yeah! Gonna be good to see you finally. Would us picking you up at 5 or whatever work?"

"Yep. What's the plan?"

"Oh you know how it is with us! Completely spontaneous."

She smiled knowingly.

"Yeah…how could I forget."

"So just be prepared for anything. See you then!"

"Yep. Bye Jordan."

She shut her phone and put her hand over her eyes and looked at her watch. In a couple of hours she would be with her best friends for a fun and random night. So why didn't that even get a small smile out of her?

Dressed in a simple black tank top and jeans, Claire was waiting outside in her driveway for her friends. Her watch said it was now about fifteen minutes past five. Her friends always were late with most things they did. It was one of Claire's pet peeves and they really had a knack for constantly doing it to her just because they knew it got her riled up. They did it so much that Claire actually started to expect it from them. When they said something like five, she knew it meant about fifteen minutes later.

And sure enough, when fifteen after came, she heard the sound of a car turning down her quite neighborhood road and then soon it came in sight. Jordan's red Ford Fusion in all its glory, windows down and arms flailing. She could only assume they were waving at her.

Once again her thought were confirmed when they pulled into her driveway and all of them, except Jordan, bailed out and crushed her with hugs from all sides.

"You dummy! It's been way to long!" Sarah shouted into her ear.

"Yeah no kidding. Did you forget who your friends were?" Jordan laughed from the car.

And finally, "We're keeping you so late tonight as punishment," Madison chimed.

"Can't really breathe here," Claire shook them off but smiled nonetheless.

Jordan honked the horn, bringing them back to reality.

"Get your butts back in the car! You can smother her in here too."

Claire huffed.

"Well gee thanks buddy. That sounds like a blast."

And so she was dragged over to the car and thrown into the passenger seat on the front and they took off on their adventure. They pretty much just drove to the city nearby and went shop hopping at the mall outlet. Her friends bought a few things here and there and Claire bought a nice sundress herself.

When hunger set in, the four of them drove to Applebee's to catch a late night dinner. They were seated in a booth by the window and their waiter came to take their drink orders. Like usual, it was four glasses of water with lemon.

"Our waiter is kinda cute," Sarah said when he was out of ear-shot.

"Oh geez…here we go," Jordan rolled her eyes.

"You do this with every guy," Madison laughed.

"Cause there are a lot of cute ones," she justified.

They laughed and their waiter, who Sarah got to tell her his name, which was Mitch, dropped off their drinks.

"We still need a minute," Claire said.

"Please take your time," he nodded and shuffled off.

"Really cute," Sarah continued.

Jordan sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"You're such a girl," she laughed.

Sarah smiled proudly for a moment and then sighed, giving Claire's foot a nudge.

"Since we're talking about boys, how's Devin? You're the only girl with a hookup," she smiled.

The question, which Claire had to admit she was waiting for, stung at her again and she forced a smile, but it was after a bit of a silence and the girls caught it.

"Not much…happening," she jumbled words and said the statement rather quietly.

"Hey you okay?" Jordan asked. "You seem kinda out of it today."

"Yeah," she forced a small smile. "Just been kinda under the weather lately," she took a sip of water to busy herself.

They all watched her for a moment but Jordan was really studying her best friend. She really knew her more than Claire probably knew, and she knew that she would pretend things were fine so that she wouldn't burden anyone with worrying about her. Slowly putting the pieces together she realized that Claire had been uneasy today every time her boyfriend was brought up.

"Claire…did something happen with you and Devin?" she asked cautiously.

They noticed she gave a very small and quick shudder and she slightly slumped in her seat.

"…Claire?" Jordan put her hand on her shoulder.

She finally answered with a small nod.

"What happened?"

Claire kept her eyes on the table and in an extremely small voice said, "We broke up."

"You WHAT!" they stood up in exclamation.

Claire jumped at their outburst.

"When did this happen?" asked Sarah.

"Everything okay here?" Mitch came by.

They looked to him and then slightly reddened with embarrassment of how they were standing awkwardly and their recent outburst. So they quickly sat down.

"Are we ready to order now?"

They somewhat ignored the question as they were still shocked at what their friend had told them plus they were very aware of how everyone in the restaurant was now looking at them.

"…ladies?" Mitch asked after no response.

"Oh…yeah we're ready, right?" Jordan looked to each of them, getting three nods.

Jordan ordered the country-fried steak, Sarah the sizzling chicken and shrimp, Madison the chicken fajita and Claire ordered the Fettuccini Alfredo. (A/N : my four favorites…couldn't think of anything else either : S )

"Okay. I'll put those in for you," he smiled and left to the kitchen.

The silence loomed over them and Claire dared a glance up to see them all giving her tremendous bouts of worry.

"Claire we're so sorry," Sarah reached over and put her hand on her friends.

Claire gave a smile.

"It's okay…I'm fine."

"Gosh," Madison shook her head, getting them to look at her. "You're such a liar."

Claire gave out a sigh and nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Jordan put her hand on her shoulder. "Claire you don't have to apologize at all," she laughed and gave her a reassuring pat. "What happened?"

What the heck was she supposed to say to them? His demon side took over him and he almost killed her subconsciously so he decided to break up for fear of her life? She thought it over in silence that lasted a while.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Sarah then said.

She shook her head and gave them a smile.

"It's okay, I'm fine with it… he just said that things were getting too difficult."

She looked down in thought. That really wasn't a lie at all so she was telling the truth. Looking back up she saw her friends giving her rather unpleased expressions.

"What the hell does that mean?" Madison said with a tinge of anger.

"Watch the language," Claire rose a brown.

She rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Yeah," Jordan said. "What does that mean?"

"That's personal…sorry."

"What did I tell you about apologizing?" Jordan laughed. "It's okay."

"Well not really," Sarah sighed. "Really thought you two were gonna get married, you two were perfect for each other."

Claire slightly cringed and looked up when she heard Madison smack Sarah's arm.

"Gee you're a great friend Sarah."

She bowed her head.

"Sorry…"

Claire laughed and they looked to her.

"You guys are too much."

They all smiled and laughed with their friend. Food came moments later. They ate up and headed back to Claire's and dropped her off with plenty of hugs and warm wishes that they wanted her to cope well with the situation.

"Don't be a stranger," Jordan released her from their hug. "We're always here for you Claire."

She smiled and actually wiped a tear from her eyes, happy that she was blessed with such friends. More hugs and warm words followed before she watched their car disappear around the corner. She looked up to the night sky in thought.

Giving it good thought, she couldn't remember the last time she hung out with her friends. Upset, she realized that it had been too long, knowing that most of the time she was with Dante ever since things got back with the whole him being a demon and her getting life threatening visits from the underworld.

Getting up to her room she also remembered that she also was not a normal girl. She had let slip from her mind her strange "power moments" and that brought on a whole new thought process.

Why? Why could she do those things? She wasn't a demon, Sparda and Dante had assured her of that, so WHY? What was she? She might not have Dante anymore, but those didn't leave her. And then she started to get a little frustrated. She deserved to know why she could do those things. Maybe she did have a power. As bizarre as that sounded, it wasn't completely insane, especially considering everything she had witnessed and been through. And just maybe she could learn to control this strange power she had? A million things flew across her thoughts. She wondered if the demons were going to leave her alone now that she and Dante weren't together…but they knew who she was and that really didn't make her feel safe. Demons didn't seem like kind to care about breakups.

She laughed and rolled onto her side. Maybe she needed to learn so that she could fend for herself now that she wasn't protected? Well one thing led to another, which led to the decision that she would visit Sparda tomorrow.

**Life is hectic so another apology. Flooding, internship and golf practice but here's another chapter. Enjoy!**


	10. Powers 101 Part I

**Enjoy and God Bless! Please review everyone : )**

Claire was sitting in the driveway of the Redgrave's house before she even knew it. She was so deep in thought on the drive over that everything seemed to pass by in a blur, as if she was on autopilot. She had been sitting there for a little bit now, just staring at the house and laughing somewhat about her decisions and plans for the day.

She was so sure about doing what she came there to do and now that she was actually there it was a bit comedic. She was there to train her powers…and thinking about it now sounded a bit silly…or strange for that matter. Not to mention that none of them even knew she was coming. And if Dante was there…what would she say…what could she say? She really rushed into this and felt pretty stupid as she sat there now, staring at their house as if she was waiting for it to make a move.

Soon, though, the door opened and Sparda poked his head out, staring right at her. No doubt he had sensed her when she arrived, or at least gotten close. She took in and let out a slow deep breath before finally unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car.

Sparda slightly rushed up to her. He was at a complete loss as to why she would be visiting.

"Hi," she smiled a little when he reached her.

"Claire, why are you here? Is everything okay?"

His statement felt foreign to her. The fact that he had to ask why she was here, instead of the welcome she always got when she was dating his son.

"I have a favor to ask."

He merely blinked at her. Moments later, they were outside in the spacious backyard as Claire answered all his questions. She told him about how she was tired of not knowing anything about these strange powers she apparently had, and how she thought it might be possible to control them if she had experience. Sparda had to admit he was also a bit curious himself if she would be able to do so and he was willing to help with her request. Claire also found out that Dante was not there and that he had gone back to hell momentarily to aid Andrew with keeping the demons in check in Sparda's prolonged absence. That news both saddened and relieved her.

"I'll help you the best I can, Claire…and I'm curious to know what you had in mind?"

"From what I gathered," she started. "These…powers or whatever, have come up only when I was about to be attacked by demons or something."

"Yes," he nodded. "I noticed that. Perhaps it was because you were close to death that maybe your adrenaline kicked in."

She nodded in silent agreement and his eyes fell back on her.

"Well we have an idea…did you have a way to test it in mind?"

She did.

"Sparda…you can summon demons right?"

"No Claire."

The statement came almost as soon as she finished asking. And his answer wasn't for her question, it was disapproval of what she was thinking.

"There is no way I am going to risk your life like that."

He said the words very sternly and it felt like she was being scolded for doing something wrong so she remained silent. Seeing her state he gave a sigh and gained a small smile.

"Sorry Claire. It's just that we are not 100 percent sure it would work so we aren't going to risk that."

She nodded.

"So let's see if we can think of something else."

Well that was timely. They started out in silence, breaking it with options every now and then and coming back to have no ideas. They slowly went to sitting on the ground. Even then, nothing came. And they were pretty sure a half hour or so went by with nothing to think of. Claire knew that if Sparda had nothing…well what would she be able to think of? He had powers and was maybe somewhat used to stuff like this. So, really, she was just banking on him for answers.

"Sparda…what did you do when you had to learn to use your powers?"

"Well," he started. "Actually I guess I never had to learn how to use them because I was born with them. It was kinda like learning to walk…you just knew how to do it eventually."

She gave a hum in response and fell silent once again. That last question, though, did get Sparda's brain turning.

"I think I might have an idea."

"Yeah?" Claire sat up quickly, finally glad to hear that they had come up with something.

"Yes," he turned to her so that they were now sitting across from each other not too far apart. "I need your cooperation."

"Sure, anything," she nodded.

"Okay. This is something that I do with Dante sometimes as a way to focus our powers and cool our heads. The closest thing I can relate it to is meditation or yoga for humans," he laughed slightly.

He reached over and took her hands and clasped them together before putting them in her lap.

"What I want you to try and do, is make yourself as calm as you possibly can and if you can remember the feeling when you used your powers…I want you to focus on that. Think you can give that a try?"

She nodded.

"Okay…I'll try my best."

He removed his hands from hers and watched her intently, hoping something helpful would come from this. She started out just staring at the ground between them before she closed her eyes and dropped her shoulders and all other tensions in her body. She let out a deep and long breath before changing to slow and steady, rhythmic, breathing.

Time passed by and nothing was happening, though Claire kept at it because she was dead set on figuring out what these powers she had were. If there was any chance this would help, she was going to make sure she did everything she could. So she stuck to her patience and kept focusing on the feeling Sparda told her to.

She thought back to the first time she used it. When she was at the lake after first meeting Sparda. For a moment she thought of Dante but quickly pushed that aside and moved forward to the moment the demons went at her. She mostly remembered the terror she felt in seeing the demons lunging at her, ready to rip her to pieces. But now that she was really giving it thought, she also collected that there was something else she felt. She scanned that memory the best she could but couldn't move past the fear she felt and then how she really didn't remember much as she passed out soon after.

So she moved on to the next time she remembered using it. It was when Vergil had tried to kill her with his sword after he made Dante's demonic side take him over. The situation was pretty much the same, but she didn't pass out afterwards. True, she remembered being in tremendous pain from the wounds Vergil inflicted on her, and she also felt the terror of almost dying again, but she knew that there was something else. It was more prominent in that situation. She focused harder on that and knew that it was a warmer feeling. Like the sun shining through the clouds it was reassuring and calming.

Now that she had something to work with she put all she could into thinking about those elements; warm and reassuring. She thought of happy things, or things that she loved. Things like a warm summer day, or the smell of fresh cut grass, the feeling of walking barefoot on soft sands of beaches. She searched for feelings instead of emotions, trying to find the one that matched. Sparda became very interested and amused when he looked to her face to see she had attained a smile somewhere along the way.

Then finally, it happened. Claire's infamous white light appeared. Her body became outlined and, even though there was no wind, her hair and clothes began to move and flow gently about her. She opened her eyes slowly to see the light for herself and she watched in amazement.

"You did it," Sparda said simply, smiling brightly though. "Very well done, Claire."

She smiled brighter and then let out a small sigh and the light slowly faded and her hair dropped back down.

"That was so cool," she said with excitement.

He nodded.

"So? …what did you find out?" he asked with eager curiosity.

"Well…the first time I remembered using them was when Vergil sent those demons at me and then there was the time when he tried to kill me with his sword."

As Sparda listened he also grimaced at how close to death she had come each time, and how it was by her own son's hand.

"I was terrified both times…but now that I actually had time to think about it, there was something else I remember feeling."

She paused for a moment and he nodded.

"Go on."

"I'm gonna try and word this the best I can…but I remember a calming feeling…warm too. It was relaxing and soothing even at the time when my life was threatened."

"Okay," he crossed his arms. "That's very interesting."

"Why?"

"Because it seems that you are the complete opposite of me and my sons."

She waited for him to continue.

"In a way I don't want to tell you, but I will. And part of me hopes you might have already known this. But when we use our powers they are fueled by survival. Usually anger inhabits that too. I wouldn't say it's a desire to kill, like most demons, but there is a need to kill somewhere in there."

She looked down and gave a subtle nod to his statement and his words were true. She did figure that was the case for him as she knew first hand what could happen when they were pushed to far, just like Dante was when she almost died.

"That is true then…when I think about it," Claire started. "When I used my powers to bring Dante back I was thinking peaceful and soothing things. Just desperate to calm him back down."

"Then it seems that we can safely say your powers are fueled by your positive emotions…that gives us something to work with at least," he said as he stood.

She stood as well.

"And that also proves that you aren't a demon. No more having to wonder about that," he smiled.

She actually made a disappointed face at that.

"You make it sound as though it's a bad thing Sparda. You really don't give yourself enough credit. You're not a terrible person. You're different from the other demons."

He gave a laugh and placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

"Thank you Claire. But truth be told I am still a demon."

She gave a sigh. She had plenty of conversations about stuff like this with Dante. He had told her plenty of times that he was a disgusting creature no matter how she viewed him and his father was just the same. No matter how much she insisted they realized they were different and had a good side to them, they wouldn't listen.

"You're different Sparda," she repeated.

He laughed a little again and looked up at the sky to see the sun had moved a considerable distance from when they started.

"Well you've been here quite a while. We should call it quits for now."

"Okay…could I come back tomorrow for some more of this training?"

"Don't see why you can't," he looked at her. "If you're thinking about practicing these while you're not here might I suggest finding a very secluded spot or only doing it when you know nobody is around?"

She nodded.

"Okay. I'll be back here same time?"

"Yep. I'll be waiting."

He gave her a hug, which actually surprised her a moment before she hugged him back and headed to her car and drove off. She was happy that her decision got her more ideas about these powers of hers. Sparda on the other hand was more troubled about their findings of the day. She wasn't a demon; that much was 100 percent certain now. So the big question now was what was she? She seemed human to him and also to Dante. She was also born from two human parents so there's no complicated half-blood stuff involved either. He also noted that her powers felt very strong and commanding when she was summoning them beside him. There were times when he even thought they could rival his own and she was merely just finding them, not focusing them to use.

Sparda started out rather curious to find out more about her strange abilities when he first saw her use them. But now he wasn't sure if he wanted to know anymore. Claire was a wonderful and pure spirited girl who really couldn't do any harm. That much he had gotten from getting to know her these past few days. So you couldn't really blame him for being curious as to why she seemed to possess powers that could make demons like him feel rather uneasy.

**Yay! A rather decent timed update. Exciting chapters lie ahead so please be patient and I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far! : )**


	11. Powers 101 Part II

**Enjoy. : ) God Bless!**

"I have to say I'm impressed, Claire," Sparda mused.

They were at it again the next day and he had asked Claire to repeat what she did yesterday and she did it almost immediately. Her white aura even stayed with her as she spoke.

"I did just a little practicing yesterday before I went to bed," she said.

"To think you doing it that quickly in only a day's time is quite a feat."

He continued to study her white glow.

"And that you are able to keep it as you carry on a conversation too. You're a natural," he laughed.

She gave him a smile in return before finally dropping her powers down.

"I think you're ready for the big stuff," he stood up. "You feeling up for it?"

She stood and gave a nod.

"Yeah let's give it a shot. So what did you have in mind?"

He started to step back away from her a little before stopping.

"How about you see if you can send a wave of energy at me to push me back."

She bit her lip for a moment, uneasy about that.

"I don't know Sparda…I don't want to hurt you. I ended up killing those other demons so I don't want to risk it with you. I don't know much about holding back because it just happens suddenly and I can't stop it."

"Trust me, I'll be fine. And I trust that you will be able to."

His statement was the farthest thing from reassuring her. He gave a sigh, smiling though, when he noticed her state of defiance.

"Claire I promise I'll be okay…but if you don't want to…"

"I don't," she said firmly. "Sparda I could never want to hurt you."

"Okay," he laughed. "And I won't ever make you do something you don't want to do."

She smiled.

"Thank you, Sparda."

"No problem. Now let's figure out a different route."

"…we could always summon a demon…"

He turned and gave Claire a face of disapproval and she gave him a smile.

"Just sayin'," she shrugged.

"Very funny Claire."

They both shared a laugh and Sparda ran a hand through his hair with a shake of his head.

"You really want me to summon a demon…that just kills me."

"Why?" she raised a brow.

"Because I can't believe you would want to be near any demons…or even see one for that matter after all they've put you through."

"I've kinda just gotten used to it by now," she shrugged again.

He was silent for a moment and let out a sigh, letting his head drop with a shake.

"…Claire?"

"Yeah?"

He didn't answer right away.

"You're…something else," he laughed the statement out.

She presented a sly smile.

"Why thank you," she mock bowed. "Always good to have a fan."

Now Sparda had been thinking of a way to test Claire's abilities the whole time. He knew she would disapprove highly if he asked, so at this point he was just waiting for an opportunity to present itself to test her.

"Any more ideas by chance?" she turned to him with her arms folded behind her head, in a sort of lazy pose.

"Not really. Don't suppose you do?"

She was silent for a moment, staring at him before asking what he thought she would.

"There's always the demons option," she smiled but then sighed. "Can we please just try that once?"

He frowned.

"No Claire. Please stop asking me to do that. It's a no. And it will always be a no," he said, now firmly and stern.

"Can I ask why again? You're here…so if things get out of hand you could take care of it."

He shook his head and turned away from her.

"No. I won't. Yes I could take care of it but there is always a risk of something going terribly wrong and that would cost you your life. And…"

He paused and then looked like he shook his head a little bit but said nothing.

"And what?" Claire asked.

"Just no. I won't do it. Please stop asking me to Claire."

She let out a sound of annoyance.

"What were you gonna say?" she pressed.

"I promised Dante I would never put you in harm."

She immediately paused to the statement, her eyes wide because she didn't expect that. He watched her carefully as she slowly un-tensed and now wore an expression of a mixture of sadness and understanding.

"I'm sorry, Sparda."

He finally showed a smile again and shook his head.

"It's okay Claire. Now that we have that settled we can use our energy towards figuring out something else."

She nodded and cast her gaze up at the sky.

"Okay…but I don't give any promises."

They both fell silent and it was then that Sparda found the opportunity he had been waiting for. Her attention was cast elsewhere, making it the perfect time for a surprise attack.

Her body acted on it's own but at the same time she was fully aware of what she was doing. He shot at her after he summoned his sword to him. She turned and put both her hands into the air and stopped his sword when it hit a thin layer of white light. There was stillness between them for a split second before Sparda was suddenly thrust back with tremendous force before he actually hit a tree and broke through it. He was drug through the ground, kicking up earth, before finally coming to a stop.

"Sparda!" Claire exclaimed in shock at what she did.

She rushed across the yard, hopping over the broken tree, before sliding down beside him and lifting him up and resting him on her lap.

"Sparda what the heck were you thinking! Are you okay?"

He was actually smoking a little bit but his eyes were open and he was smiling slightly.

"D*** girl you pack a hell of a punch…and nice job too," he laughed. "You really are a natural."

"Watch your language," she shook her head. "…and don't ever do that again! I could have seriously hurt you! Or worse!"

He laughed at her for always being her. Even in the most surprising of events she still told him to watch his language. But she performed way beyond his expectations. Not only did she stop his unpredicted assault, she channeled enough energy to send him flying back as forcefully and as far as she did. And for her to do that to him was saying a lot. Small demons wouldn't stand a chance against her… and probably neither would medium ones. Heck she probably could hold her own against strong ones too because Sparda was one of, if not the strongest demon alive at the time. In fact it was pretty much a given that he was since he was king of the underworld.

"Are you gonna be okay?" she looked over him in concern and worry.

Her comment brought him back and he nodded.

"Well a kiss would probably make it feel a lot better," he gave her a cozy grin.

She smiled.

"Okay."

He was actually a bit taken aback by her agreement and how she started to move his head up to hers. She then firmly put his perverted demeanor away when she suddenly moved his head over and dropped it onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Pervert. I see you'll be just fine," she got up and brushed off her lap.

He put his hands up.

"Hey," he then got to his feet. "Was worth a shot."

She folded her arms and continued to give him a disapproving look.

"Okay…my bad. Sorry," he scratched his head nervously. "But more importantly, Claire…you really are a natural."

She smiled and giggled a bit, putting her hand to her head with a blush at his praise.

"I think you will be just fine if you happen to run into demons. But don't think I won't always come to save you."

"Good to know," she laughed. "So I guess I should actually be saying thank you for that move you just pulled."

It was his turn to mock bow.

"Just glad it actually worked."

Claire paused abruptly at that statement.

"What does that mean?" she asked with a deep frown.

He put his hands up with a nervous laugh.

"Oh you know…"

She took a step towards him.

"Sparda…" she said in a you-better-tell-me tone.

"Some things you are better off not knowing," he smiled and acted as if that would be good enough for her.

She furrowed her brows further at his answer and then looked down at her hand and gained an idea and a competitive grin that she flashed to the demon king.

"You had no idea if I was gonna be able to block that or not…did you?"

He pursed his lip, signaling that her assumption was correct.

"Sparda…"

He turned to her after her chilly tone and was quite surprised to see she had brought up her white aura and was in a pose that said she was gonna fight him.

"Uh…whatcha doing?" he laughed slightly.

She started walking towards him, still wearing that competitive smile.

"Let's give this another test run," she then sprinted at him.

"Claire!" he barely managed out before having to block a punch, that exploded with white light, and sent him back a bit.

He then put both hands up to block another, each time getting shot back from her explosive force. It was now that he noticed not only did she have growing power, but her speed was increasing as well.

"Where in the world are you learning how to do all this so fast!" he said between blocked punches and side kicks.

"Don't know!" she laughed. "Just a natural, like you said, I guess!"

He then took her by surprise when he was engulfed in a red aura of his own and disappeared from her sight. Before she could blink he had her arms pinned to her sides as he held her in a vice grip.

"No fair," she squirmed around to get free.

"Very fair," he laughed. "But d*** Claire I gotta—"

She cut him off with a head but to his face followed by the infamous "Watch the mouth."

He shook his head at her unfaltering character that in no matter what situation she was always just so well mannered.

"Anyway," he continued. "I'm using quite a lot here just to hold you! It's kinda scary actually."

"You better let me go Sparda," she continued to try and wiggle free.

"Oh," he rose a brow. "Or what?"

"Who knows," she said with a scary edge. "I'm just full of surprises today."

He let out a sound of nervous agreement before finally letting her go. At the same time, they both dropped their auras and decided that it was a good time to stop there. While they were heading back to the house, Sparda picked the snapped tree up like it was a twig and tossed it across the yard where it landed on the burn pile.

"Something tells me you were holding a little back," Claire turned to him.

He shook his head with a small grin.

"Not too much though. Seriously. You're strong."

She gave a quick breath of amusement to the statement and before they knew it they were at her car.

"One more thing now that I think about it," she paused after opening her door.

"Fire away."

"You can sense me coming right?"

"Yes."

Before she could answer he got where she was going.

"Good point. This is something you can probably practice anywhere," he looked up as he spoke. "The trick is to be calm. What they sense is feelings. Fear is a big one and that's why most humans are in trouble when it comes to demons because they are obviously terrified of them," he brought his gaze back to her. "If you stay calm I think you'll be fine."

Before she could respond he added with a wink, "But I'll always be keeping an eye on you, just in case."

"Such a gentleman," she smiled.

"Hey," he rose up his hands with a shrug. "I do my best."

She gave him one last goodbye and started to get in before he put his hand to her shoulder and stopped her. She turned to see him looking at her with a now serious expression.

"Claire I wanted to ask you…how are you doing since…" he trailed off.

She caught his hint and dropped her gaze and he saw her expression fall with it before she gave a small smile. Sparda could tell it was mainly forced for his sake.

"I'm fine. If it wasn't meant to be it just wasn't. I'm not going to question what God's doing in my life."

He gave a small nod.

"I'll always care for your son, Sparda. I just want him to be happy. I hope that after a while we can both just move on and still be friends."

He nodded.

"I think that sounds like a good idea. Somehow I knew you would be so understanding, Claire. You really are a beautiful person in and out."

She tinted over at his compliment.

"Aww thanks Sparda."

He smiled and pulled her into a hug that once again caught her off guard.

"No problem," he pulled back. "Now don't be a stranger."

"Never," she gave one last smile before finally getting in the car and rolling away.

**Yay for quicker updates. Very excited for the next chapter! Gonna be one of my favorites to write. Been anticipating it for a while now. Please read and review! And please leave a review if you add this to your favorites! Can't stress that enough. God Bless!**


	12. The Reunion

**Soooo….I had an author's worse nightmare recently with this story. I re-read through this story and found a BILLION or so grammatical errors and that I had repeated a chapter…almost killed me seriously. So I have gone through and replaced all of the chapters and hope that is the end of the mistakes. I owe all of you a tremendous apology for that! It is just plain shameful, yuck! I had originally written this story with Claire as the narrator so that is why you might have come across a lot of 'me' instead of 'I'. I missed them when I went through and redid them. Big thanks to Snoara for pointing out my repeated chapter! If any of you see any mistakes please let me know! Thanks all and God Bless! Enjoy : )**

Another week passed by with a few other visits to Sparda. They went a little more in depth about avoiding being sensed by demons and various things she could do with her powers. Sparda was at a loss for words at how fast she took to learning everything he showed her. When they felt that enough had been covered for Claire's sake, they stopped the lessons but she promised to visit every now and then. Claire had also insisted that Sparda kept these lessons a secret from Dante and he promised he would.

When she wasn't training with the demon king she was out with her best friends and other friends she hadn't seen in a while. They had a bonfire at Madison's house and Claire was reunited with the rest of her buddies all enjoying the summer months off from school. It was good to see them, since they were all freshly graduated from high school and about ready to split and go their separate ways when college came in August. Once again Claire found it rather sad how long it had been since she saw everyone that was there. They took to the news of her and Dante's (to them Devin) split just as shocking as her three best friends took to it. She found that they all also expected them to marry just like Sarah had. Jordan, along with Madison and Sarah, quickly changed that subject, knowing Claire didn't want to talk about it any more and was trying her best to move on. It seemed like no matter what she did there always seemed to be something to remind her of Dante.

On a rather annoying note, more so to her three best friends then Claire, once some of the guys at the bonfire found out she was single, they tried to see if they could pick her up. All of those who tried or hinted at the gesture, Claire was not familiar with and didn't know them. She was trying her best to put them down nicely but they were rather stubborn. Madison made quick work of kicking them out of the get-together once it became apparent that Jordan was gonna start throwing punches to protect their friend. There was just something about Claire that attracted boys to her, she had noticed it all her life. Her friends told her it was a combo of her free-spirited and loving personality towards all things and the fact that she was semi-tall, thin and very attractive. Though every time her friends praised her for that, she told them not to and said she was just average. Her other friends pointed out the same things as well as Claire's very standout-ish hair color that was very unique. It was a strawberry color that was something you would see in an anime. It was more a light pink than anything but the thing was it was real and it suited her very well. It never seemed to fail at catching people's eyes. Her friends were sure that nobody else in the world had that hair color.

Claire also had an uncanny ability to make people smile or feel better when they were down. Jordan best described it as other-worldly. She just seemed to know exactly what to say to anyone. Whether it was advice or to cheer them up, she just always knew. Madison thought of her as too good to be true at times when Claire had come to make her feel better after a bad day; but she always did it. Sometimes Jordan, Madison, and Sarah would try and find a flaw in their best friend but just couldn't do it. She had a big heart too. She never wanted to burden others but always wanted to take on other people's problems as her own and wouldn't stop until things got solved. Helping and cheering up others was who she was. So her friends could see why people, boys or whoever, were just drawn to her.

In the past week Claire also broke the news to her parents about the break up. They took it just like her friends did; shocked that it happened. They were, even if they didn't say, pretty sure a marriage was going to be the result. They didn't quite follow what Claire meant when she said they broke up because of things getting too complicated. Especially her dad, who was very suspicious and wondered if Dante had did something she wasn't telling them. He knew his daughter to be the one that wouldn't say something if it made people worry, as previously stated.

Today saw Claire running around the lake in the late afternoon hours. There were quite a lot of people out since it was the weekend. She enjoyed watching the little kids frolicking at the beach or out on the boats fishing with their parents. In general she just enjoyed watching people go about their merry ways. It was also a good thing that there were people out all over. Sparda had told her that he wasn't sure if splitting from Dante meant that demons wouldn't still be after her because of her strange abilities. But he assured her that they were rare, if ever, to attack in broad daylight when there were a lot of people around. He rather she ran at times like this and went places just the same.

She stopped under a grouping of trees deciding it was finally time for a break after doing a few loops. The sun was right overhead and the humidity was still seemingly rising even though the day was coming to a close. She chose to walk the rest of the way and was getting a little tired of extreme techno blaring into her ears, so she took of her headphones and put her iPod away in her back pocket. Turning around, she glanced up at her favorite spot and decided it would be nice to visit it since it had been a while.

The spot was still her favorite, even though it reminded her of Dante and it was 'their' special spot. But no other place in the world was better for her to clear her head and rest. So she decided that whatever happened, it would always remain that way. In a way she liked to think of it as God's and her spot because she had many conversations with Him there.

As she made her way across to the other side of the lake and began her trip up the winding trail, she remembered another reason why she loved it. Don't get her wrong, she loved people watching and didn't mind being around them, but it was nice to always have a place away from all the commotion. With her spot, no matter how busy it was, there was never a soul on the way up the trail or at the cliff. Funny, considering it was such a beautifully breathtaking view.

But as she continued her trek up, she noted that perhaps people didn't like it because it was a long and strenuous climb up, and a rather fun slide down if you didn't have the proper shoes. The terrain probably sloped a good 70 degrees at times and was an average of 60 for the whole thing. Going up and down it constantly probably did more to help keep her in shape than any week of cardio ever did. As the slope slowly flattened out the closer she got to the top, she felt the familiar burning in the back of her legs. She laughed when she remembered how bad it was the first time she made the climb up compared to now. Hooray for being somewhat in shape!

The forest finally gave way and the moment the canopy was gone from above her, the sun blinded her momentarily. She put her hand over her eyes and squinted through the sharp rays focusing her eyes in front of her as she neared the cliff's edge. However, she didn't get very far before her eyes finally focused and she gasped, her heart perhaps even skipping a beat.

Perhaps it was rather naïve of her to think he wouldn't be there, or ever go there again. He could love this spot just like her, casting aside all ties it had with herself. She shouldn't flatter herself like that.

But there he was. Jeans, simple navy blue t-shirt and his other-worldly white hair blowing thoughtlessly about his head. Staring out into the infinite depths of the growing horizon he stood frozen against the lively scenery. The whole situation was completely unexpected, so what was she supposed to do now? Really what **could** she do? Part of her said to leave; you haven't been noticed yet so get out of there. But her body ditched that idea quickly when her legs started moving forward before she stopped about only a few yards from him now.

What was she doing? It seemed like her mind had completely shut down now and her body had taken over. She was transfixed on his being. Her eyes neither moved nor blinked. She was like a bystander watching firefighters putting out the flames of a building, or cops at a crime scene. There was nothing you could do, so you just stared.

Stillness was shattered when he slowly ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh before turning around and freezing the moment his eyes met hers.

"Claire…" the name came out before he even realized it.

She said nothing as her and her mouth was slightly hung. By now Dante was completely shocked that she was standing before him and the other half of him was astonished he never sensed her coming. How the heck did she manage to get **that** close to him without him even feeling her once!

What the heck was he supposed to do now that she was standing right in front of him anyway? And why was she there? He noticed she hadn't even moved a muscle yet to his discovery of her presence. Unsure of himself in a situation like that to make the right or wrong actions or say something stupid, he turned to jump out of the situation entirely. That sounded best at the moment. He should just jump over her and make his getaway through the woods before he did anything he would regret. The moment he made the gesture to jump and leave she came out of her transfixion.

"You **IDIOT**!"

Her outburst caused his foot to catch his other and he stumbled forward and stared at her.

"What am I supposed to do!" she continued.

"…what?"

She just called him an idiot? She was yelling at him? What was going on?

"Don't even give me that!" she was now right in his face.

He was blinking at her in total confusion; it was all he knew to do at the moment. What was she talking about?

"Was I just supposed to forget about you and move on? Like it was nothing? And what about demons? A little hard to don't you think!"

By now, she had apparently snapped and quite frankly she wasn't even sure why she was acting the way she was but she just gave in to whatever was controlling her words and actions. All these things were pent up inside of her and exploding to the surface in waves upon waves of frustration and confusion.

"What ever happened to talking it out?" she continued. "You shut me out completely and then you ran away from it all! A heads up would have been nice!"

He blanched. Never in his four years of knowing Claire had she ever just exploded like this. Or had she ever said words like idiot to anyone, especially him… and she wasn't one to just yell like this either. Anger was rare but it was in full throttle right now.

Her rise in angry emotions and outbursts drew a third party to their situation. Dante immediately tensed up before leaping towards Claire and grabbing her around her waist protectively before summoning his sword to his free hand. Claire gave out a sound of surprise when he shot his sword forward and sliced a dog-like demon that came from absolutely nowhere. The blood shot to their right and left as the slice got it directly down it's middle, casting his body in two directions past them because of the force the demon came at them.

Dante sliced through two more of the same looking demon before Claire finally came to about what was going on around her. She started to try and pry herself from Dante's protective grip. He felt her pushing at him and he looked down in total confusion.

"Claire, what are you doing?" he exclaimed.

"Let go of me, Dante," she said with annoyance.

"Little busy saving you right now!" he said with a vertical slice through a tall sickly looking demon carrying a sickle.

"I don't need your help!" she said with a push that finally got her free.

The strength she used also caught Dante off guard because it was pretty substantial if it was able to break his hold on her. He shoved those thoughts aside when he noticed all the demons suddenly took a liking to Claire being unprotected. He ran to get in front of her when he came to another shocking halt that evening, again almost falling flat on his face.

Right before his very astonished eyes Claire thrust a hand at a swarm of half a dozen or so demons. Their agonizing screams were muffled to silence as they appeared to catch on fire in a burst of golden light before turning into a black cloud of dust that drifted off over the cliff.

His body went limp, his hand that held his sword up dropping to his side, as he watched her move at speeds close to his, thrusting hands that dispersed demon-killing rays of light at demon upon demon. No matter which one came at her she killed it like it was nothing, making his swordsmanship look like he was working way too hard to get the job done.

Claire made more than quick work of the demons, probably killing around one or so dozen of them, not leaving a single limb behind. The last remains of them drifted off over the cliff like their predecessors. His eyes focused back on her to see she was barely even breaking a sweat, and not breathing as hard as one would think she would be after all the moves she pulled. Really…what the hell happened to her!

She had almost forgot he was there with her and she turned around to him to get an expression she was expecting from him. It was not her intention to ever do this in front of him, it was only to protect herself if Sparda wasn't able to get to her on time to protect her, which is also why she didn't tell Dante because she felt he just didn't need to know. And now since that was over with, she remembered their little argument before hand.

"Claire…what…what do you call that!" he pointed at her.

"Your dad helped me train my powers while you were away."

He rose a stupefied brow and she continued.

"And you would have known that if you wouldn't have just left me in the dust you moron!" she shouted.

"What the **** is going on!"

"Dante watch your language!" she shouted.

He froze to the familiar statement and just stared at her, like he was studying her. That was the Claire he knew, and what she didn't know, was it hurt him to hear it. The last few weeks had been pure hell for him after he made, what became known to him as, the biggest mistake of his life. He wanted her back so bad each and every day that passed by but he had also told himself she was safer that way. But it wrenched his heart to see her here now right in front of him, yet so far away. He could barely stand it.

"What?"

Her blunt question brought him back to their previous engagement.

"Claire I…"

The sentence trailed off as he tried to find the words. He wanted to say he was sorry, and he wanted a second chance. But she looked like he had really rattled her up with their breakup so he felt a million times the word undeserving.

"What?" she pressed again.

He just decided to say it straightforward.

"I love you."

It was her turn to blanch.

"…you love me? Then why did you leave!" she shouted.

He heard what she didn't want him to hear in her voice. It was breaking and she was trying as hard as she could to stay firm on her questions. She wanted to cry so bad it was virtually killing her on the inside. It really was close to hell having him in front of her again like this. Just like it was for him with her, he was so close yet so far away.

He took a step towards her and she got on the defensive, putting her hands up ready for a fight. He paused at the gesture and then, much to her surprise, pulled out one of his guns and fired a shot that landed right past her. She screamed at the gesture before turning to see his bullet landed dead square in the middle of the forehead of one last dog-demon that must have been hiding out waiting for an easy strike.

Turning back to him she watched him put his gun away and start for her again. Her hands flew right back up, ready for a fight.

"What are you doing?" she started.

He didn't pause or stop this time, and surprised her when he laughed halfway to her. When he reached her he smacked one of her propped up hands away before taking the other and pulling her flush against him, dropping down to his knees, taking her with him.

"What are you—"

"I'm sorry," he cut her off quickly.

She paused for a moment at his stern apology before starting to push at him, attempting to get out of his embrace.

"Let me go," she squirmed around, only to feel his grip on her tighten.

"Please don't go…please Claire," his voice was getting quieter and more pleading.

She kept pushing at him and felt he tears pushing too hard for her to contain now and they finally started to spill down her cheeks. He felt her pushes getting weaker and weaker.

"…Claire," she barely heard him say.

Her pushes finally ceased and he felt her hands grip the front of his shirt.

"It's not fair," he could hear that she was crying.

"Do you hate me?"

He felt her clutch at his shirt even tighter.

"…you know I can't Dante…"

She felt him squeeze her as hard as he could now without hurting her.

"Can you give me a second chance?"

His heart was aching with the silence she was giving him after his desperate question. He could hear her breathing raspy between sobs. And the answer she finally gave him made him pause for a moment.

"You're such a jerk Dante," she shook her head into his shirt.

He waited for her to continue because he had no idea what she meant by that.

"…you're the only one for me…you dummy…"

For the first time in a very long week and then some, Dante finally gave a true laugh. He couldn't see it, but she finally smiled, no laugh, but a smile finally broke through.

Just as before, a third party was watching them from afar.

"Told you," Eva smiled back to her demon husband. "You gotta have faith Spardy."

He laughed and held her closer to him, resting his head on her shoulder. They were perched up in a tree back in the forest as they watched the scene unfold between the two teens. Sparda had sensed the demons getting close to Claire and when he got there he saw his son and her having a little argument before Dante took her into an embrace. That was when he hurried home and retrieved Eva, knowing she would want to see this.

"Oh come on. Give me some credit here," he laughed. "At least I came to get you."

She nodded with a bright smile.

"Very glad you did, Dear."

Claire and Dante were now standing, but still keeping their embrace. Claire finally pulled back and looked into his face a moment before slowly reaching up and holding his face in her hands, letting out a long sigh.

"We need to talk. A lot has happened," she searched his face.

He nodded and placed his hands over hers.

"First thing tomorrow."

She removed her hands from his and then noticed he was bending down to kiss her. She surprised him a bit when she reached up and put two fingers over his mouth, stopping him.

"I love you Dante…but let's take this slow. We've both been through a lot I'm sure."

He gave a smile to how mature she really was and nodded again.

"Okay. Tomorrow we'll talk whenever you want to. And then I've got a lot of explaining to do to a lot of people."

She tilted her head.

"What does that mean?"

He gave an impish smile.

"What would you do if I told you that I have kinda been keeping an eye on you…"

She put a hand to her head with a small laugh.

"I would tell you I'm not surprised."

"I figured that."

She folded her arms and looked out over her favorite view."

"So I'm guessing you're familiar with what happened when I told everyone we broke up and about the guys at the bonfire."

Once she mentioned the bonfire, his face grew rather serious and unhappy.

"Yeah…we have **a** **lot** to talk about."

She laughed and hugged his arm.

"Hey now," she gave it a tug. "God loves them."

He gave a 'humph' and mumbled something she couldn't hear.

"Good boy."

Quite suddenly he remembered their little fight before hand, and at the same time was quite shocked he had forgotten about it, and he turned back to her.

"And I hope you'll be filling me in on how the heck you did what you did to those demons back there young lady."

With an agreement to talk tomorrow at some point, Claire told him where her car was and he carried her down the hill, something she had to say she missed. He let her down and told her he would follow her to her house and then say goodnight. She pulled out of the lot and he followed, tree hopping, in close pursuit.

Tomorrow he would sit down and talk with her, something he had been longing to do the moment he made the worse mistake of his life in letting her go. Her forgiveness of him was welcomed more than she would ever know. While he was glad tomorrow would see him back together with her, it was also a day that would be filled with a lot of stress for the half demon. He would have to talk with her parents about why they broke up, and also her friends. Ultimately he would be asking for their forgiveness as well. And finally, he would get Claire to explain how she went from the sweet-loving innocent girl he loved so much to a demon-killing machine…that he still loved so much.

She pulled into her driveway and quickly headed in, giving Dante the sign that it meant her parents were aware she was home so he should meet her in her bedroom. After telling her parents she was off to bed early because she was exhausted, which was not far from the truth, she headed straight upstairs to see Dante was already waiting for her.

"Love you," he opened his arms for her and she happily occupied them.

"You too," she smiled into his shoulder. "I'll call you when I'm ready to talk."

He gave a nod before leaving as quickly as he came. He was going to respect her wishes because he owed her the biggest apology, and quite frankly she should never have taken him back. But just like always, he never truly left her, as he laid down on the roof above her room to keep a watchful eye on her. He couldn't leave her now, and he promised he never would again.

**I'm getting better at these updates I think because now I'm at the part in the story I've been anticipating for a while. Thank you for continued reviews and readership! I am very thankful for your patience. I just must say that if you are going to add this to your favorites, at least leave a review telling me why. We authors appreciate it more than you know. Thanks everyone!**


	13. New Tricks

**Sorry for another bit of a wait. Enjoy and God Bless! : )**

She had been awake for an hour now, he sensed, but she was just lying in bed. The gesture made him a little nervous because she was always quick to get up. No doubt she was doing some thinking about what was going to happen today. He didn't blame her either, he would give her all the time she wanted.

But she finally got up and began her morning routine to get ready. Mind you, he was merely sensing all of this and not watching. He was a pervert, but he wasn't **that** bad to do it to his girlfriend. Unlike his dad, he was just on the level of teasing her, but Sparda was more physical, as she had experienced before.

Dante was in for quite a surprise this morning, one that Claire just hadn't explained to him yet. She had been carrying a smile to herself all night and it was still on her this morning. She could sense that he was nearby, not too sure where because she hadn't honed it that far yet, but she knew he was keeping an eye on her. And she knew he had done it all night.

She was quite pleased with these odd abilities she was given, though still a little uneasy about what it meant that she had them. But not near as uneasy as she had been when she was first introduced to them. She kinda liked being able to hold her own with Sparda and Dante…well as close as she could come to being somewhat leveled with them.

She was now eating her breakfast still feeling him moving around outside and laughing a little to herself about how cute he was being her little guardian angel. She then paused and laughed once again.

Guardian demon.

"Okay we're leaving now, Claire," her mom and dad came into her view from the living room.

She chewed on her bite of cereal and stared at them in question.

"Where are you going?" she said through bites.

"Oh to get more groceries and stuff," her father said, heading over and filling up his to-go mug with a fresh brew of coffee for the road.

"How long will you be gone?" she finally swallowed the bite.

"Well we're going to the store in town for groceries and if we need anything else we'll have to go elsewhere since most of the stores are closed today.

True, today was Sunday. She was hoping that they would be back earlier rather than later because Dante had said that he was going to meet with them if they had time.

"Won't be late. If anything we'll be back around late afternoon."

"Okay. Have fun," she smiled.

Her mom laughed.

"Oh we always do," she said sarcastically.

They left swiftly and she was now alone. Going back to thinking about all that was going to happen today, she the time slowly drifted past her. She got done with her cereal and then realized that she was alone, and that Dante still hadn't come in. She was happy, actually, at the notion, that he respected the fact that she needed her time to herself on this particular morning.

She headed into the final steps of her prep before meeting Dante by putting up her hair in a high ponytail that was towards the back right of her head so that it hung to the side slightly. She finished it all off with a pink star clip that matched everything about her today. Her pink dressy t-shirt that had wavy sleeves that hung down about to her elbows, her pink wavy skirt that went down just above her knees, and of course her one-of-a-kind pink hair.

She finally made her way out the door, immediately seeing him leaning against a tree in his typical Dante-got-attitude pose. One leg crossed over the other and arms folded with his head down and eyes closed. She gave a huff with a smile at how most would think it BA, but she thought it was so cute. His eyes opened and his face raised to meet hers, the emotionless state giving way to a smile at finally seeing she was ready. He stepped away from the tree and met her halfway, arms open and waiting. She happily stepped into them and they shared a hug. He securely put his arms around her back and hers reached up near his neck.

"Morning Dante," she whispered.

She could hear his slow and steady breathing, musing that he was probably taking in her scent like he always did.

"Hmmm," came his response in a content hum. "Morning."

He finally let her go but wore a questioning face.

"You didn't call me…how did you know I was over here? Did you see me?"

She smiled at the ground a moment before reaching up and flicking his nose.

"I sensed you the whole time. I know you stayed here all night."

Before he could ask another question she covered his mouth with her hand.

"Just proves even further we have a lot to talk about today, Dante."

He surrendered the question for later and reached down, taking both her hands in his.

"I have a good idea, but I'll ask anyway. Where would you like to go to talk?"

His answer came in a smile that overtook her face, and she gave a giggle when he picked her up without further conversing and took to the skies. He loved the feeling of having her back in his arms once again as he leapt from tree to tree out to their spot. He felt her reach over and put her hand over the one that was around her back and he looked down to see her eyes closed contently. Seeing this, he actually wanted the trip to last a bit longer but he was about a hop, skip, and a step away at this point…literally.

With a soft landing, he let her down and she plopped down and laid out as she stretched for a moment. Sitting back up he sat down next to her, but facing her.

"Where did you want to start?" she asked.

He gave a soft laugh.

"Not my question to ask. You've got the floor, Claire."

She looked down in thought.

"I think," she started and then paused a moment. "We both need to talk about what happened while we were away from each other…or at least start with that."

He nodded but stayed silent, letting her know she could go.

"…but to be honest Dante, I want you to go first."

He laughed a short one and looked down a moment.

"Okay. I'll go."

He was silent for a while, she knew, to find where to start and how to say it all.

"I headed straight back to hell the moment I left you," he started with a slight shudder. "I had to find something to distract myself…I was in agony over the decision I had just made. But I was also in agony over what I had done to you."

"But you didn't do it!" she exclaimed before he put a hand over her mouth with a smile that asked her to please let him go without interruption.

She gave an uneasy expression but let him continue regardless.

"My mind had shut down at that point and all I knew to do was to release it all through killing…"

He looked at her for a reaction and saw her giving him none.

"I won't lie to you Claire. Part of me is a demon, and that was the part that was calling the shots then. I was glad you couldn't see me at that time. It definitely wasn't my finest hour."

He watched her closely when she removed her eyes from him, once again looking down and her hands played with the grass. He waited, not knowing if she was going to say something or if she was waiting for him to continue.

"I can't say I'm happy to hear you say that," she started. "But I rather it be demons, Dante, then you killing humans like they would."

They moved on.

"I was only in hell for a little while because Andrew kicked me out and told me to go find you and apologize," he sent her a sly smile to see she was giving him one.

"I'll have to thank him for that."

"I was gonna anyway," he made an annoyed sound. "So I left and went searching for you and found you at a bonfire with everyone so I didn't approach you."

Claire wore an uneasy expression.

"So like you said yesterday…you had a front row seat to those guys flirting with me…didn't you?"

His eyes grew dark, his fists clenched up and his teeth were grinding.

"I could barely contain myself…I wanted to rip those bastards to pieces. It was enough that I felt like s*** for letting you go like I did…but then to have those guys jumping all over you just because they knew you were single…and not to mention they were practically undressing you with their eyes, God I can imagine their thoughts…"

Claire reached over and put a hand on his and gave him a look that said she wanted him to try and calm down.

"I left for a while and took my anger out on a few trees…I just had to hit something or I didn't know what I was gonna do to them."

"Well one, thank you for resisting, and two watch that language," she smiled.

He laughed and held the hand she had placed over his and gave it a squeeze.

"I followed you everywhere since then but never really knew when it would be good to approach you…or if I should. And that pretty much leads up to when you saw me here."

She nodded and bit her lip, feeling pretty bad about all that he was put through, unbeknownst to her.

"Dante…I'm really sor—"

His hand quickly fell over her mouth again and he shot her a serious expression.

"Don't you dare apologize, Claire. I'm dead serious. I'm the one who stupidly split it off, I'm the one who caused all of this! You did nothing! Quite frankly I deserved it."

"You didn't deserve—"

His hand cut her off a third time and her eyes told him she was not amused.

"Don't wanna hear it."

She breathed a sigh out through her nose and he finally withdrew his hand with a proud smile.

"Whatever," she mumbled.

After a few laughs, he then refocused back on her, and sat up straight, remembering something it seemed.

"Now that I've shared my part of the story, I have a ton of questions for you little lady."

"I'm sure," she said like it was obvious.

"First off…where the heck did you learn all those crazy powers and moves you pulled yesterday! That was the biggest shock of my life Claire!"

She laughed a bit and started her tale.

"Well the reason you didn't know is because you said you came back at around the bonfire, this all happened before that…in the next few days after you left."

"You know what…something tells me my old man has something to do with this…am I right?"

The smile she gave him told him his assumptions were correct.

"I'm going to tell you how it was, but I don't want you to feel bad," she started. "You were gone… and I had so many things to sort through," she shook her head.

He knew she didn't want him to feel bad, but the feeling that he completely abandoned her was growing with each passing second she spoke.

"I felt so lost…I didn't know what to do or think. Like you might have guessed I did a lot of talking to God and reading, and obviously hanging out with people to get my mind off of you. Quite frankly, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do."

She put in another pause.

"Everywhere I went something reminded me of you. It was like I couldn't escape it no matter how hard I tried. I went out to eat with Madison, Jordan and Sarah and had to break the news to them about our break up. They were absolutely shocked," she looked at him. "Actually everyone was. They all thought we would get married."

Instead of being happy at that statement, it made Dante hate himself even more.

"My parent's were the same way when I told them."  
At some point that day, Dante knew, he had to face Claire's closest friends and her parents and try to explain as close as possible to why he did what he did without telling them the truth. Then he had to ask them to forgive him. He had to ask her friends not to hate him, and her parent's to let him date their daughter again. Her mom, he felt, was pretty lenient, but it was her dad that was starting to get him a little nerved about the meeting.

"Anyway," she continued. "When I got home I just started thinking about everything again and that was when I thought about the strange powers I had."

At her finally mentioning her powers he listened intently.

"Well one thing led to another and I decided to go see your dad about maybe training these powers for figuring more about them."

"What for?" he asked.

"I don't know…quite frankly everything I seemed to be doing at that time was rather arbitrary."

"So? How'd it go?"

She studied him a moment before moving so she was sitting on her knees, resting her hands in her lap.

"It will be easier to show and tell. It went very well. He showed me how to call on these powers and how to control them. He also taught me how to keep myself from being sensed by demons."

When she said that, Dante remembered their meeting yesterday.

"I see," he started. "So that's why I didn't sense you."

She nodded.

"So why did you decide to do all this?"

"Sparda didn't know if me no longer being with you meant the demons would leave me alone…well actually I brought the idea up to him. Anyway, I wanted to be able to at lease protect myself if I got ambushed by them again and Sparda couldn't get to me on time."

He felt a pang in his heart when she mentioned Sparda being the one who would come to her rescue, making him aware that she had thought he had completely abandoned her and wanted nothing more to do with him.

"I would have too," he looked at her.

She looked down at the comment and felt a little bad herself.

"I really had no idea at the time."

She then flashed him a smile.

"Not important right now," she shook her hands. "Let me do this."

He watched her in silent wonder as she closed her eyes before letting out a long and slow breath. After a moment his breath hitched as her hair started to slowly rise up and flow around her head followed by the golden light outlining her figure. When she was apparently done, she then opened her eyes but kept up her powers as she spoke.

"I think we did a pretty good job."

His mouth was hung a bit as he looked over her with surprise and growing curiosity.

"I think I could kick your butt now," she stood up. "Pretty sure."

He was in such a trance in staring at her that it was a few moments before he even realized she had stood up, much less the challenge she had issued.

"Wait…what?" he stood up.

She burst out laughing.

"I said I could kick your butt now."

Upon realization of the challenge he grew a competitive smile.

"All you've shown me is a pretty hair and light trick Miss Summers," he took a step towards her. "Gonna take a little more than that."

"Demons might come if we showcase too much," she said with absolutely no worry.

"That's fine," he kept the challenge going. "I'll have taken care of you long before they get here."

But when Claire shot at him at lightening speeds and he barely had time to reach up and stop her punch, well he was once again shocked and astonished at her feats. She shot up her other hand and he grabbed it as well before pinning them both to her sides, their faces very close as he looked down at her.

"Well this is incredible, I must say Claire. I have to use just a tinge more than no strength to hold you down," his grin was from ear to ear.

She was not amused at his cockiness and shut down his ego pretty good when in a flash of light from her, he was thrown back off of her where he hit the ground hard. Looking up at her like he didn't know her he shook his head.

"Holy sh—"

In an instant she was next to him with a hand over his mouth and a finger over hers.

"That will just land you in more trouble young man."

He reached up and swatted her hand away and caught an attempted punch from her. The combination of her martial arts combined with these honed powers of hers, he had to say, turned her into quite the fighting machine. Now he was no longer surprised how easily she took care of those demons yesterday.

After a few more dodged punches, Dante now found himself in fast motion hand to hand with his girlfriend. Every now and then she also threw in a kick or two. He caught one of them and she thrust off him, quite high in the air, flipping back and landing on her feet. The movement was rather graceful.

"Wow…I've gotten better," she laughed.

Even she was amazed at how well and naturally everything was starting to come to her after her lessons with Sparda. So since she was in awe a bit, her demon boyfriend was tripping.

"Who the hell are you girl?" he put his hand to his head. "Where did sweet little Claire go?"

"She's still here, and still telling you to watch your mouth."

But he was half demon, and he was accustomed to having powers much longer than she was, and so it was gonna happen eventually. He shot towards her, disappearing in front of her and catching her off guard. She looked all about her before he suddenly snatched her and in an instant, her back was to the ground and he was hovering over her with a victorious smile.

"Ah but you still have so much to learn."

"I let you have that one," she denied his speculation.

He shook his head and let silence fall over them as they went into a staring contest. As the gap between them subconsciously got smaller, it was then Dante paused after yesterday when she had stopped him, saying they needed to slow things down. He wasn't going to do anything unless she let him.

And she must have read his thoughts because she grew a loving smile at his hesitation and placed a hand over his cheek. Words were not needed. He understood she was letting him back into her space.

Very slowly, he bent down and gently placed his lips over hers for the first time in way too long, and she also agreed. He treated it very much like their first kiss; he was careful, slow, and gentle. And it a lot of ways it seemed like it was because of the distance they shared for so long. Though it wasn't really long in reality, they both never wanted to go through that again. It sure felt like eternity to them.

Claire slowly reached up and embraced his head with her hands, pulling him down more to her and inaudibly asking him for more. But without waiting for him, she deepened the kiss on her own. He happily followed her and it was then that he realized her kisses were different. Like her when he kissed her, he now felt a little overwhelmed and lightheaded. And he had to admit it was a very pleasant surprise.

Finally pulling back, he let out a quick breathy laugh.

"Wow," he searched for words. "That's new."

She looked up at him with a confused smile.

"What?"

"Those powers of yours affect more than you think Claire."

She just stared up at him with continued confusion before a blush fell on her face and she looked away, completely embarrassed.

"Geez Dante," she mumbled. "Keep it to yourself."

He laughed before lifting her up to him in an embrace, burying his head in her neck and taking in her scent.

"I missed you, Babygirl," he whispered.

Her embarrassment was soon forgotten and she melted into his embrace with a content hum. They held each other for a while in silence before Dante pulled away but kept her in his lap and in his arms.

"I have to get some things done before I see your friends and parents today."

She bit her lip with nervous worry at his situation.

"I can tell them for you…you don't have to do this Dante."

He shook his head.

"I have to own up to my mistakes Claire. I owe them all a personal visit."

She sighed, he wasn't going to be swayed.

"Okay."

He laughed and kissed her nose.

"Good. I'll take you home then."

Without further said, he picked her up and took her back home swiftly.

"Could you do me a favor and get them together somewhere?" he asked her after he set her down in her room.

"I'll try," she opened her phone. "Don't know what they're doing today."

He leaned against her balcony doors while she sat on her bed and sent out text to Madison, Sarah, and Jordan. After a few minutes, she got the green light that they were able to meet up with her and hang for a while, though she didn't tell them to expect a visit from Dante, to which she asked, "What should I tell them?"

"Well at some point just let them know you and I are back together. I'll show up at later on and explain the rest and give out a few needed apologies."

At that she noticed he gave a shudder.

"What?" she laughed.

"…Madison and Sarah I can handle…but Jordan is gonna tear me apart…"

She then burst out laughing and headed over to him, putting her arms around him and looking up at him.

"You sure you're half demon?"

"Very funny Claire," he still didn't show a smile. "Like I said, no swords or guns with humans…and she's scary! Admit it!" he exclaimed.

She put her forehead to his chest in another fit of giggles.

"Yes she can be. I'll try and get her calmed down before you get there. Text me before you show up okay?" she looked up at him.

"Okay…and then I have to talk to your parents later too."

She noticed another shudder from him, no doubt about facing her father more than her mother.

"One thing at a time Dante," she rubbed his chin with her thumb. "I'll see you soon."

He placed his forehead to hers for a moment before dipping down and kissing her fully once more and holding it a bit.

"Love you."

"Love you too," she returned the words.

He turned and hopped up on her railing before turning back to her with a thought.

"Oh, and try and not be too surprised when I see you today."

"What does that mean?"

But with a leap off the balcony, he was gone before she even finished the question. The statement had her completely confused. She headed over to her bed and started texting her friends about when and where they would meet. She was quite curious…and a little nervous about how they would take to the news. After a few back and forths on the phone, she set the date for one o'clock, and once again it was at the lake. Popular spot with her. But it wasn't her spot. It was at the beach house where they could grab a bite to eat and catch up a bit before Dante arrived. She didn't tell them about him yet, she would wait for that.

Seeing she had a few hours until then, she picked up her Bible and read a little before doing some serious praying for Dante, and her, to get through the day unscathed.

**This chapter was supposed to be A LOT longer but I decided to cut it up into smaller ones because I'm a little behind on updating. Thanks for patience! And thanks for reviews too! **


	14. Dealing With The Consequences

**College has started so that is the case for the super late update. I have golf, school, and what's left of a social life after those that I am quite busy with. ****I also have a poll on my website that would be a huge help with periodic updates while being busy here at college. You can check that out, PM me, or write in a review the day of the week you prefer updates on. The full list of choices is on the poll on my profile. Thanks for continued readership everyone! God Bless : )**

Claire played with her hands unceasingly as she nervously waited for her friends to meet her at the beach house. But actually, she was more upset with herself in a way at how much she didn't discuss with Dante. She left out a rather large chunk on her mental list. And perhaps the events that were to come that day were really starting to get to her…because she was making **way** too big a deal out of it.

"Stupid demon," she mumbled to herself.

The comment was directed at how he always seemed to distract her with his kisses, words, and…well just plain him. He was too handsome for his own good now. Looking back, actually it wasn't the first time this happened either. How many times had he cut off meaningful conversation with a kiss or by practically seducing her? Not just as a half-demon, but he had always done this.

She was mumbling a little too long to herself, and fidgeting with her hands way too much that it was distracting her from the outside world. So much, in fact, that her friends were standing beside her now, unbeknownst to her, giving looks of confusion and worry for how she was acting. The realization that she had no clue they were there was rather scary to them. She must have something pretty deep on her mind to be distracted that much. The angry playing messing with her hands was enough to make people a bit swayed to approach her. Perhaps like a caged animal.

She then suddenly froze a moment and then put her head in her hands.

"Gah! Why am I even thinking about this! Stupid demon pervert!" she shouted in utter frustration.

"Stupid…demon…pervert?" her three friends repeated the words quietly to themselves in unison, giving worried glances to each other.

Jordan stepped up and placed a hesitant hand on her friends shoulder.

"Uh, Claire?"

"What!" she turned with a shout.

The irritation to the sudden interruption was soon dropped and a look of horror fell upon her face to see her three best friends staring at her in utter bewilderment. Her mind blanked out a moment and she now boasted a look that screamed she was dumbfounded to find her friends were there. One she just shouted at them, and two…had they heard her outburst? Their expressions said they did. She quickly got to her feet and nervously scratched her head.

"Uh h-hey guys! Thanks for coming."

After a moment of silence she found they were only giving her very complex expressions and nothing more.

"Stupid demon pervert?" Jordan repeated the questioned phrase the other two were also wondering.

"W-what does that mean?" she waved her hands at them.

"Well we don't know…we were hoping you could explain that," Sarah rose a brow to her peculiar friend.

"Oh I was just spacing you know," she continued to wave her hands like it was nothing. "Mumbling 'bout nothing."

Jordan folded her arms, obviously not amused by the bad lying skills of her friend.

"Fine…if you won't go on, then we won't either," she shook her head.

"…thanks for coming!" Claire smiled and took all of them into a quick embrace, quite thankful for a change in subject.

"Why **are** we here?" asked Madison.

Claire took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.

"Let's get a snack and sit."

She led the way and they followed, with continual growing confusion and questions for how their friend was acting. They each got a little something to munch on before following Claire to one of the lakeside benches.

Once they were all situated, she realized they were still giving her 100 percent of their attention.

"All right," she sighed with a slight laugh. "I see I have your undivided attention."

She laughed inwardly at how at that they still didn't move or give any response at all.

"The reason I called you here was to tell you that…"

She paused a moment, catching herself before she slipped out Dante instead of Devin.

"…that Devin and I are back together."

Jordan's eyes quirked, Madison choked on her granola bar, and Sarah merely continued to stare with a slightly hung jaw.

"You're kidding right?" Jordan asked.

The stern tone she used made Claire hesitate a moment. That wasn't what she expected.

"Should I be?"

"Claire you're a better person than to go crawling back to him!" she then shouted a bit too loud, catching a few onlookers.

Claire blinked at her statement in speechlessness.

"Huh?"

"Yeah he's probably not gonna change. You should have talked to us before doing that," Madison added to Jordan's comment.

"…wait a sec—"

"He's probably just gonna use you till you refuse," Sarah then nodded.

"…woah woah woah hold on a second guys," Claire stood up. "That's not what's going on here!" she waved her hands in emphasis.

"Then what is?" Jordan rose another brow in speculation.

Oh simple, Claire thought. He just let the situation of almost killing her get to his head and he wasn't thinking straight when he let her go.

"He just made a mistake."

The look on their faces showed her they were not amused by that answer.

"That's it?" Sarah asked.

"It's complicated," she ran a hand through her hair.

Oh the truth would be so much easier to say but at the same time it wouldn't be.

"Didn't you say that's why he broke up with you?" Madison pointed out.

She bit her lip. She was in quite a conundrum.

"Oh my God…"

They all turned to Sarah after her sudden statement.

"…Claire…you're pregnant aren't you!"

She choked on her food before spitting it all over the pavement.

"WHAT?" she managed to shout.

"Gosh you're dumb, Sarah," Madison shook her head. "No she's not."

There was moment of silence before she added, "Right?"

"Of course not!" she slammed her fist on the table in emphasis.

It was right then that she caught movement out of the corner of her eyes and turned, as her friends did, to meet a young man who had came up to them.

"Hey girls," he waved to her friends. "Long time no see."

Claire stared at the guy for a long time, getting one of those "familiar yet no clue" vibes from his appearance.

"Devin!" Madison exclaimed.

"Devin…" she whispered the name out with a hint of questioning.

It was then that he finally turned to her and gave out a smile at her blank expression.

"You feeling okay, Claire?" he put a hand to her forehead and she jumped back a bit at the sudden touch.

Her mind hadn't processed yet who exactly was standing in front of her.

"Woah, who the heck—"

He quickly placed his hand over her mouth and stopped her from making that mistake. He then picked her up bridal style and turned back to her friend.

"Be right back ladies," he smiled sweetly before hurrying off around the beach house and out of sight.

Claire was definitely sending her three best friends for a loop today with all the bizarre happenings surrounding her.

"What the heck was that all about now?" Jordan put her hands on her hips as she continued to watch where her friend disappeared.

"Was it just me or did she act like she didn't even know who he was?" asked Madison.

They exchanged glances and then looked back to where she had disappeared.

"What the heck," they sighed out in unison. "…is going on?"

He carried her out of eyesight of anyone, into a grouping of bushes before he put her down and took his hand off her mouth.

"Who do you think you are?" she shouted and jumped away from him.

His response, that caught her quite off guard, was that he burst out laughing, even bending over a bit from the magnitude.

"Claire it's me!" he stood up and put his hand to his chest. "Dante!"

She paused and lowered her arms to her sides, which were up and ready for a fight.

"…what the..." she trailed off, now really studying him.

"I **told** you not to be surprised when you saw me today young lady," he then said.

With all that had happened, and what he was saying she then slowly put the pieces together and realized that Dante was indeed in front of her, but only in his human form. Which, quite frankly, she had completely forgotten he had, or what he looked like, since he hadn't taken that appearance for weeks now. She had gotten completely used to his half demon persona. And now that she was seeing it once again in such a long time, she really had to admit she didn't like the old him, the **fake** him.

"Oh…Dante I'm sorry," she said with regret of her actions.

He laughed and headed up, taking her into an embrace.

"It's okay."

The hug lasted a moment before he pulled back after feeling her tense up a bit.

"What's wrong?"

She looked down a moment before meeting his eyes.

"Umm…I…"

She made a noise of discomfort before wiggling out of his arms and folding hers, barely meeting his eyes.

"It just feels odd to…well when you look like that…I can't…feels like it's not you…I don't know," she said finally and looked away.

It was his turn to sigh, thought it was one of utter amusement. She gave a jump when a bright red flash caught her eye and the next thing she saw was the Dante she knew standing before her. Giving her a little time to take it in, he then headed up to her, wrapping her close to him and kissing her soundly.

The alien feeling was gone replaced with the euphoric feeling she was accustomed to coming with his kisses. He felt her smile against his smile. This was much better, he thought.

"That better?" he pulled back mere inches so he could speak, but it was a whisper.

She put her forehead to his with a content hum and nodded. He pulled back all the way and put his hand up and held her cheek.

"Good. But please forgive me for I can't present myself to your friend like this."

With that he stepped away from her and this time she saw the red fire-like aura that engulfed him momentarily and leaving to reveal the now-foreign-to-her all human Dante.

"I would love to continue that with you," he gave her a wink, earning a faint blush from her, "…but I owe your friends an explanation or two."

She gave a nod, a bit transfixed to the form she had completely forgotten about. It was just so weird to be seeing it again.

He held out his hand for her and she actually smiled, despite herself, and took it as he led her out of their cover, around the beach house, and back up to her friends. They didn't exactly show it, but they were practically bursting with questions at this point.

"Ladies," he gave them his full attention and likewise. "I believe I owe you all an explanation."

With that he turned back to Claire and she nodded.

"Yes…I will…give you some time," she said before skirting off and out of sight.

The silence was heavy as thy three girls gave the boy responsible for a lot of conflict with their best friend over the last week. Not to mention they hadn't seen him for a while. The moment that Dante's demon heritage was exposed to Claire, he had been in hiding a bit and also staying in that form for a while to get used to it again. Plus the week before hand so it had been a decent amount of time. And now, they were seeing him here, Claire was acting weird, even more so when he arrived, apparently they were back together again…many reasons for the blank stares he was getting. But much to his expected and awaiting misfortune, the girls weren't pushovers. They weren't people you could expect not to voice and lash out for those they love. And it was Jordan, like he knew, who started it up.

"You have some nerve, you know that?" she said with a cold stare.

He mentally grimaced for the onslaught he knew was coming.

"Yeah…really," Madison nodded. "Do you have any idea what you've put her through? She's been a mess."

"She's been super quiet all week. It's rather depressing to watch," said Sarah.

He was a demon. Been through way more serious and intimidating situations than this. But, somehow…he felt like he was getting smaller and smaller by the second. Truly, Claire was associated with some of the most intimidating humans he had ever met. Fitting, because she was the most he had ever met period.

"You better explain yourself," Jordan pulled him from his small thoughts. "…because she refuses to tell us what happened."

He bit his lip with nerves at the comment. He had to be careful here. He had to do the best he could to guess and match what Claire had said to avoid two stories that didn't quite go together and thus raise more questions.

"I got too stressed out and pushed her away," he started. "Things were getting complicated and—"

"There's that word again," Jordan interrupted him. "What the heck does that mean, seriously?" she said with growing annoyance.

"…it's my fault it got that way," he started again. "None of this is Claire's fault."

They looked to each other in silent communication for a moment.

"You guys are keeping something from us," Jordan started.

The comment stopped him a moment.

"Something's up…you both are acting weird lately. I think there is something you guys aren't telling us," Madison finished the thought.

It got quiet a moment and then Sarah had one of her "dramatic-Sarah" moments.

"You were abusing her weren't you!" she stood up and pointed at him.

Dante almost fell out of his seat at the sudden accusation, while Madison pulled Sarah back down and Jordan put her hand to her face in embarrassment of her blonde friend.

"No way I would ever do that!" he regained his composure.

Jordan stared at him with steely eyes.

"Of course he didn't…right Devin?"

He slowly inched back a little from her with a quick nod. Suddenly the space of the table between them was not enough for comfort. Then, getting rather serious, he stood up and they all watched him closely and intently, noting the change in atmosphere caused by his face and actions.

"The most important reason I came here today was this."

He moved around to their side of the table and then slowly got down on his knees, and at eye level with them. They merely blinked in silence as they watched him.

"I understand if you can't forgive me, but I am here to ask you to please try. And that I am deeply sorry for the hurt and pain that I put Claire through," he started.

Jordan watched with a rare and genuine look of shock, while Madison and Sarah were some-what blushing at this.

"But I promise to you all right now…I swear that I will never hurt her like that again. And I promise to love her and protect her always from now on. She means more to me than anything this world has to offer. So I'm asking you all for a second chance."

Almost immediately, Madison and Sarah voiced out forgiveness towards him and were happy to hear the seriousness in those words and they knew they could trust what he said. It was when he turned to Jordan that he knew he wasn't out of the woods yet, because she was giving him the most serious expression she had all night.

She moved so that she was on her knees in front of him and shocked them all when she reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards her, glaring daggers into him.

"Fine. I get it that maybe the reason you guys split was personal. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. Now these words of yours better be true. I'm giving you a second chance because Claire would want me to. So I'm doing it for her, you got that?" she tugged harder.

He swallowed hard and gave a nod.

"I swear to God, Devin. If you hurt her again or go back on your word I will personally give you hell the likes of which you have never experienced in your life."

He would have laughed at that statement if he weren't actually as scared as he was at the moment. She released him forcefully and stood up, looking down on him and casting her shadow over him.

"Then I think we are all good to go here," she put her hands on her hips and let out a smile, though it was rather scary-fake.

Even Madison and Sarah were a little phased by their friend's recent actions. Quite by chance, Claire peeked around the corner to check on things to see Devin on his knees with Jordan towering over him.

"What is going on!" she shouted and ran around the beach house and quickly over to them.

"Nothing at all," Jordan waved her hand at her. "We were just done talking is all."

Claire looked at Dante to see he was wearing a look of actual fear on his face and she got a small look of uneasiness when she glance back up at Jordan.

"What did you do to him?" she knelt down and put her hand on Dante's shoulder while still looking at her.

"I forgave him," she said simply. "We all have."

Pushing the fearful expression her boyfriend was wearing she smiled brightly.

"Thank you guys for understanding."

Claire's smiles always had an effect of really melting people's hearts. They were just so beautiful and touching, another unexplainable and unearthly feature she had. They were even enough to get Jordan to smile back, as the other two were.

"Yeah yeah," she turned away, as she always played tough. "I did if for you."

"Thank you guys!" she swooped them all into a hug when Madison and Sarah both stood. "You're the best."

Their smiles grew bigger and they embraced their friend after a long and confusing stretch of days. They chatted a little longer but eventually her friends had to go. They left with wishing them the best now that they were sure things would be okay with them dating again, even though Jordan had some more last minute words for Dante. The couple quickly retreated back to some bushes where Dante transformed back to his demi-form and then quickly took Claire back to her house.

After a few calls, she learned that her parents were on their way home, about 5 or so minutes from then.

"Maybe you should do this tomorrow…you've been through a lot already today."

He laughed and ruffled her hair as he stood beside her while she sat on her bed.

"I'll be fine."

She watched him a moment before giving a huff.

"Liar."

He laughed again and gave a nod.

"Maybe just a little. Like I said you're dad scares the sh—"

A swift dodge of her oncoming slap stopped his swear.

"Right, right. Forgive me," he looked down at her before moving back over to her. "But I deserve this. And he deserves an explanation, both of them do."

She moved over and he sat down on the bed beside her. She curled up her legs next to her and watched him while he stared out her balcony windows. Sinking into her thoughts for the moment she remembered how frustrated at him she was for not discussing all the things she had wanted to that day.

"Hey," she started.  
He looked at her.

"We have some time before they arrive and there were some other things I wanted to talk to you about."

He turned to face her a little more.

"Sure, anything," he said sincerely.

In silence she patted the space next to her on the bed and he obliged, sitting down with one leg tucked beneath him.

"I've forgiven you," she started. "All the bad stuff is behind us now. But I want to make sure that we don't repeat any of it. Dante…"

She paused while she reached across and put her hand over his.

"…God forbid it…but if something as serious as that happens ever again I want us to talk it out. It wasn't your fault. I can't stress that enough."

He watched her with admiration for the character that she was. She was so mature and spoke with a wisdom that was beyond her years. **A/N: sure…Pocahontas quote I guess)**

"It was our lack of communication and the fact that there might have been some lack of trust in there too."

He knew she was hinting to the fact that he didn't think she would forgive him or want to be with him after what he did and he did feel awful for the scenario once again.

"I will always support you with anything you do, Dante," she gave a smile. "I love you, and no matter what happens I want you to be able to talk to me about anything. I'm always going to be here for you and I'll always forgive you. I love you so much and I trust you with my life."

It was his turn to smile, brightly, as he turned his hand over and held hers before placing his other hand over it as well. She got her smile back again when he then lifted her hand up with his to his lips and held it there for a moment with his eyes closed, as if savoring the sensation of touch and her scent.

"I love you," he whispered into her hand before opening his eyes and finally lowering it, though keeping it in his. "And I promise you I will never do anything like that again. You have my word."

She kept smiling and nodded.

"I trust you will."

The moment was cut short as the sound of her parent's car pulling in drew their attention to her windows. She then turned back to see Dante had a bit of a nerved expression on his face. She stood up and pulled him to his feet, putting her arms around him above his waist.

"You sure about this?"

He reached down and brought her flush against him, putting his forehead to hers.

"I told you a million times already," he laughed a little. "I owe them at least this much."

She sighed in understanding and he ducked down and captured her lips with his in a gentle kiss, but holding it for a few moments before slowly letting up. With great reluctance, she let him go and he headed over to her balcony.

"Let them know I'm coming over whenever is good tonight to talk," he said before hopping out.

She watched where he left a few moments and then left her room slowly and started for the kitchen where she heard the sound of them unpacking and stocking the cupboards. They had both made it this far alive and in one piece…but like most things, this was the hardest and most un-favored event of the day on their chaotic "to-do" list.

**Just letting everyone know I really appreciate patience. I'm sure I say that a lot, but it means so much to me. Thanks guys! Reviews are always appreciated.**


	15. Let's Get This Over With

**Thanks for sticking out the long gap with me guys. I have practically no time anymore with college and golf. I have been traveling a lot on the team and my time to get to this is limited. Thanks for patience! Enjoy and God Bless!**

"When did this happen?" both her parent's questioned, almost in unison.

She bit her lip and hung her head a little, feeling a bit ashamed to have kept it from them for a little while.

"Just recently," she decided not to give a specific time.

Her parent's exchanged glances and stopped putting the groceries away for a moment to focus on their daughter.

"Why didn't you tell us right away?" asked her mother.

She started to feel worse and worse as the conversation went on.

"Well we were still adjusting to it all as well so…yeah."

"You never told us why you broke up…and now you are suddenly back together…what happened exactly?" her dad resumed putting away the items.

"I guess we were both just stressed out on a lot of stuff and thought that was the best idea at the time."

"Sounds more like a lapse of communication to me…thought you both were better than to let something like this happen."

Her mother had a keen intuition.

"Well, Karen?" her dad sighed while leaning on the counter and looked to her for an answer. "I think that's all the groceries. Fix the dryer or paint the deck?"

She laughed and shut the final open cupboard.

"Oh both sound like a blast, Dear."

They started to leave.

"…wait a second," she said quickly and they turned back to her.

Once again she was able to remember to say the right name. She was wondering when she would screw that up though. It was getting complicated.

"Devin wanted to know if he could come over and talk to the both of you…"

They shared a glance.

"What?" they asked.

"…um…yeah. Devin wanted to know if he could come over and talk to the both of you about everything that's happened."

"What does that mean?" her dad asked with a raised brow.

"Well if you let him, you'll find out right?" she said with a slight laugh to dull the serious atmosphere that was starting to fall.

They both studied her a moment.

"Could he come over now…if that's okay with you guys?" she then asked.

He sighed and let out a sound that she didn't know what it meant. It was a combination of curious, giving up, and frustration maybe?

"I guess…if he really feels he needs to," it was her mom that answered.

He nodded.

"We'll be waiting on the deck," he finished.

With that they both gave another shared look before heading over and out onto the deck in the backyard. She sighed and fell back against the kitchen table.

"That went well," she swelled with sarcasm.

She pulled out her cell phone and called the man of the evening.

"What's the verdict?" he answered.

"You're good to go chief."

There was a pause after a laugh.

"You sound enthused."

She made a skeptic sound.

"You're such a dummy. Got to give warning that the dad seems like he is gonna be a fun one."

Unbeknownst to her, he gave a knowing shudder but disguised all in his voice.

"I'm expecting that anyway. See you in a bit. Love you."

"Love you too," she smiled a little.

When he did come, it was two surprises for her. One, she forgot he had to drive because…well she just let that slip her mind. He needed to be human to show to her parents. They could see him coming before he turned down into their block, so she was glad he was at least on the ball. But secondly, when he had gotten out of the car, she noticed he was in his demi-form.

"Before you ask…" he cut her off as he approached her.

In an instant, he had picked her up and dashed up into her room from her balcony. He placed her down and steadied her, as the sudden moves slightly disoriented her.

"I figured I would talk to you in this form before hand, since you seem to love it so much more."

She had put her hand to her head as the last stages of dizziness left her and then she looked up at him.

"Never do that again," she smacked her palm to his forehead.

He gave a bemused sigh and wrapped her in his arms and pulled her flush as he looked down at her with a smile.

"I'm sorry."

He knelt down and gently placed and held his lips to her temple for a few moments. It was amazing at how, even after so many years of dating him, he could still make her blush so freely.

"And I have to be in this form to kiss you anyway," he winked at her, deepening the blush upon breaking his kiss.

She adverted her cherry face and he laughed, merely tucking her head close and completing their hug.

"Got it…I'll stop."

He moved back to see her giving him a concerned face, one he read instantly.

"It will be okay…I don't die that easily you know."

She frowned. She had something to say that wouldn't help his situation at all, but she had to say it.

"Good," she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "Because I think he's rather upset with you…might bring out his gun."

She saw his face flash a look of despair.

"Well you better get going. They saw your car go by anyway. They're probably wondering where you are."

He bent down and kissed her too quickly for her to react and then released her and stepped back a little. In the flash of fiery light she was getting used to, he turned back to his "human" form, which she probably would never get used to now.

"Lead the way," he smiled.

She let out a sigh and reluctantly made her way down the stairs and around the corner where she saw her parent's sitting on the deck chairs. She could tell they were both talking about Devin wanting to meet with them…they just had that "look" about them. They were so deep in conversation, that they didn't see her coming until she had opened the door and stepped out, Devin following and shutting the door behind him. They were silent as they stared at him, like people looking at something they had never seen before.

"Well hello Devin," her father started.

He straightened up a bit.

"Hi, Mr. Summers. How are you?"

He paused.

"Good…good. But a little curious as to what you have to say to me and my wife today."

He never beat around the bush.

"Claire, go do something," he turned to her with a smile.

She felt her stomach flip and got a shiver at how serious he was being, and how demanding he was. Dante really might die. The half-demon flashed her a smile when she turned around to leave before the door was shut behind her, leaving him to face the wolves. She had nothing else she could do about it, so she went up to her room and said a few prayers for her boyfriend before deciding to do some reading.

"How have you been?" Karen asked.

"Been okay," he nodded with a relieved smile to the fact that she wasn't being icy…well yet.

He knew she could be just as menacing if you put her in that position.

"Devin."

He once again straightened up at the tone her fathers used with him.

"Yes sir."

"Whatever you have to say…we're listening."

It wasn't a caring tone…it was a tone that said "you better have a good reason for putting my daughter through hell".

"First of all…I want to make it perfectly clear that none of this is Claire's fault. It is all mine."

After getting no response…and not even so much as a blink of movement from her dad, he continued.

"I was an idiot. I was under a lot of stress and some family issues (not entirely a lie) were getting out of hand and I made the stupid mistake of letting it all get to me. It was the biggest mistake I ever made in thinking it would help to break up with your daughter."

"Yes it was," he agreed with him.

Never thought he would say it, but Claire's father made Jordan look like a kitten.

"James," her mom said in a go-easy-on-him tone.

He leaned forward in his chair, never breaking his glance from Dante's

"You guys have been dating for what…four years now?"

"Yes sir," he nodded.

He narrowed his eyes.

"And you broke it off just because you got a little stressed out?"

He laughed a little.

"Forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe."

"James," her mom interrupted. "I understand you're upset but ease it up a bit."

She then turned back to Dante.

"Claire has forgiven you, I'm sure. So I will to."

He returned her smile with more thankfulness than she would know. They looked back at James when he stood up and turned his back on them to gaze over the landscape.

"Claire always did forgive people pretty easily," he said in a way that it seemed he was the only one he was talking to.

He turned back to Dante.

"To be honest I think you will be our son-in-law."

Dante blinked at him.

"Sir…um…that's—"

"...she's our only child. We asked her not to date anyone until she was almost done with college," he interrupted him. "And then she begged us to let her date you. I'm still amazed she was able to convince us, but we saw you were quite a mature young man. I still believe that."

"Thank you, Sir," he said after a pause, James was jumping all over the place at the moment.

"But that doesn't mean that I have forgiven you just yet."

The atmosphere turned heavy once again and Dante's hopes of getting this over with slumped.

"And I won't let you leave today without first telling us the truth about why you broke up with Claire," he smiled a little too sweetly. "So let's have it."

"It is what I said. It was very complicated."

"I don't like how you're using that word instead of telling us."

Dante bit his lip in silence.

"Devin…that could mean so many bad things that I believe you would agree aren't the case with whatever it truly is. Complicated means things like…"

He paused and then sharply turned back to face him with a rather stern tone.

"…like she would be pregnant."

Dante choked even though he wasn't drinking anything, her mother was also speechless at what her husband said.

"I hope to God I'm wrong on that."

Dante was appalled that he would even think he had done anything like that to Claire. But unbeknownst to him, Claire had also had that same question asked to her by her friends.

"Sir I promise you that I have never even thought of such a thing with your daughter," he said, while actually standing up in defense. "Never."

He studied him.

"I see you're telling the truth. Good to know," he gave one of his scary smiles. "'Cause I have no problem going to jail, Devin."

Her mother sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You're really not being fair right now…again," Karen pointed out. "We really don't **have** to know everything. Some things are personal in relationships. Some things are to be kept between the two, makes it more meaningful, you know?" she looked to Devin then back to her husband.

"But some things shouldn't. Something tells me this is one of them," he also looked at Devin.

"Well **I** think this is enough," she stood up with emphasis. "He came here personally to apologize and that shows he is sincere and a mature young man, just like we know him to be," she turned to him. "Like I said Devin, I forgive you. Just please promise us that this doesn't happen again. If you guys ever need to talk to us as well, we are always listening.  
She finished with a smile, and he smiled too, but he wasn't going to get up and leave until her father agreed to the terms she was setting up. Also, Dante was getting a bit more uncomfortable with the fact that he had been quietly staring him down, much like always, but Dante would never get used to it.

"…fine…it's fine," he said finally. "I understand that this might be one of those. Just know that you take what she said very seriously young man."

At this, he walked over and stopped right in front of Dante and gestured for him to get up, which he did.

"If I ever find out that you have hurt her again…" he trailed off and put his hands firmly on his shoulders. "Well who knows what I might do."

Her dad really knew how to make him feel helpless and small.

"I swear I won't, Sir. You have my word."

He smiled.

"Good…good to hear."

With that he removed his hands from him and then patted him on his back rather hard. "Glad we have that behind us."

Dante was allowed to leave after that. He profusely thanked them both for their time and understanding before going to see Claire. When he said he was going to see her before he left, James told him not to be too long. That translated to "I hate it when you are up with my daughter in her room", but he was under Karen's mercy that he had already made Dante's life miserable enough for one day.

He headed up the steps to see that Claire's door was slightly open. He peaked in and she was standing on her balcony, looking distant with her arms crossed. The sound of him shutting the door behind him made her jump, and it was apparent she was in deep thought. She turned suddenly and quickly headed over to him, giving him a questioning expression.

"Well he was like I expected he would be," he started. "He practically kicked my a—"

She immediately had her hand cupped over his mouth. She flashed a look of disapproval then discarded it with a sigh.

"Why do you put yourself through this on purpose? It could have been avoided."

In an instant, he was overtaken with red flames to reveal his true form again.

"Because you're worth it."

She gave a huff.

"You can't keep using that."

He smiled and brought her close to him.

"Well that must mean it's true," he smiled down at her.

She rolled her eyes at him before leaning in and resting her forehead to his chest. In an instant though, she fell forward and looked up to see Dante was now across the room, sitting at her desk, and was typing on her open laptop back in his human form.

"What the heck are you doing?"

The moment she finished the sentence, her door opened to reveal her father.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said with a glance directly to Dante. "Just wanted to make sure you didn't have your balcony doors open. We're running the air."

Claire read him like a map. He wasn't there for that, he wanted to make sure that Dante wasn't doing anything to her. This was precisely why whenever Dante was able to come over unannounced, it was for the better. She found herself irritated at his actions, actually, and she let out an angry sigh.

"Really?" she said with plenty of attitude.

Both guys looked at her with surprise.

"Well as you can clearly see," she was now pushing him out of the room. "They're shut!"

She didn't slam the door in his face, but she did shut it in it before turning back to her boyfriend with unhappiness. She waited until she heard that he had gone back downstairs, which took a while. Either he was waiting to hear if they said anything, or he was in shock still on how she just reacted. She headed over and fell back onto her bed, rolling onto her back and putting a lazy arm over her eyes.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that this day is almost over."

She heard a laugh and then felt Dante's weight beside her on the bed. She removed her hand to see her demon boyfriend once again.

"You know," she stared up at him. "Your changes are starting to give me whiplash."

He lifted a hand and moved a few strands of her strawberry hair out of her face.

"Sorry."

Her frown gave way to a smile and she laughed a little, getting him to smile too. She opened her arms up to him, which he took her hands and pulled her up into him with ease. He rested his head beside her ear and took in her precious scent and let out a content hum.

"Seems like forever since we've even hugged each other," he commented.

He felt her nod her head.

"It really does."

He snaked his hands off her waist and pulled back to hold her face. She had closed her eyes already and he placed a longing kiss on her lips while she placed her hands over his.

"How did I ever get so lucky?" he asked when they parted. "To have found you?"

She gave him a heart-melting smile before leaning forward into him and letting him hold her again.

"I ask myself the same thing, Dante."

They stayed like that for a while in enjoyment that the stressful day was behind them and they made it in tact.

"Dante?"

"Hmm?"

"This is random, but I have been curious about it."

She continued after a pause.

"…you're my first, but am I your first girlfriend?"

He gave a light chuckle and lent down to nudge his head to hers.

"Yes."

His response earned a smile from her.

"Why me?"

He pulled away a little to look down at her.

"What is all of this so suddenly?" he laughed again.

"Just curious," she smiled.

He gave her a quick squeeze before he began.

"Well now that you bring it up, I have been meaning to mention this to you when I got the chance."

He had her full attention after starting with that.

"You seeing me at the lake when I helped you with your ankle was probably the first time you saw me, right?"

She nodded.

"Well it wasn't the first time I saw you."

She gave him a look.  
"What?"

He smiled.

"The first time I saw you was a couple weeks before that, and it was also when you were running at the lake. I really don't know what it is but there was…and still is, something about you that I found very interesting."

He then remembered something.

"But first let me tell you a little bit about me before you came along."

Everything he was telling her had feeling like she was in suspense of what he would say next.

"My old man married a woman, obviously. I never had anything against humans, but at the same time I couldn't see how my dad could love one. I was content to go through life by myself."

He noticed she was wearing an expression he couldn't quite read at the moment, but it didn't look like it was anything happy so he nudged her and she looked up at him.

"Everything okay, Babygirl?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Sorry…I was just…kinda spacing there," she laughed.

He pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I see. Anyway, I felt drawn to you. I really didn't think anything of it at first. I was out at the lake for a walk so I continued on but I couldn't stop thinking about you. Honestly it was driving me nuts. At one point you actually passed somewhat close by me, and I caught a whiff of your scent. Don't think it comes as much of a surprise how much that drove me crazy. It still does."

She reached up and pressed her thumb to his nose and wiggled it with a smile. He took her hand and kissed it and kept holding it when he continued.

"I was so confused about you. I wanted to forget about you, I went home right away because I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even still I wasn't able to get you out of my mind. I'm sure that if I needed a lot of sleep I wouldn't have been able to."

He let out a sigh and caught her eyes.

"You were the first person to come into my life and be able to make me such a mess."

The statement was pretty substantial, she thought and all she did was stare.

"And you didn't even have to try. You still make me a mess, but it's in a good way."

She merely blinked at him and after a long pause he laughed.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she started. "I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble."

He let out a sigh with a roll of his eyes.

"Girl you did nothing. You were only being you. And I'm glad that I decided to follow you the day of our meeting face to face."

"What do you mean?"

"Our meeting was no coincidence. I was following you that particular day—"

"Creeper," she stuck her tongue out.

"And aren't you glad I did?" he stared at her.

"Delighted you did. Please continue," she gestured with her hand.

He nodded.

"Well I sensed you were in trouble and so I decided I was going to help you. When I finally saw you up close…well…"

After no response for a while she looked up to see him looking down at her with a rather gorgeous smile. Immediately, a blush overtook her face and she looked away. She gave a slight jump when he was suddenly down by her ear and he whispered, "You were by far the most beautiful person I had ever seen."

His breath tickled her ear and sent a shiver down her spine and she tried to wiggle out of his embrace.

"S-stop it," she said.

He merely held her tighter.

"Don't wanna."

He then tilted her face to meet his in another kiss that he deepened rather quickly and moved so that her back was to the bed and he was hovering over her. He put his hand to her cheek and finally pulled back to see her blush was bigger than before and that she was a bit caught off guard by his actions.

"Sorry," he buried his face in her neck a moment to breath his favorite smell. "Sometimes I can't control myself when it comes to you."

She gave his head a some-what hard smack and he noticed she was still blushing.

"You're face is so red."

He received another smack and she actually pushed him off of her.

"Dante you jerk!" she exclaimed, though not loud enough for her parents to hear.

He put his hands on his hips and looked down at her.

"Come on…don't be like that," he laughed. "I'm sorry."

She let out a sound of aggravation before throwing herself back onto the bed, grabbing her pillow and covering her face with it. He resumed his spot beside her on the bed.

"So now you have me curious," he started. "At why you picked me."

She was silent for a while, and also motionless. He was about to ask her if she was listening before she lifted off the pillow and he was surprised to see her laughing.

"I just can't stay mad at you very long," she smiled and sat up.

He smiled too.

"I think with me it was kinda the same as you but I wasn't a creepy stalker."

He furrowed his brows.

"Hey now."

She looked down and fiddled with the edge of her blanket.

"I can't explain it. Just that the moment I saw you I just knew it was you, like I had been searching for you my whole life."

He took her hand with a smile.

"And now that I know everything about you…I feel like I had sensed there was something different about you but I just couldn't say."

"Good or bad?" he asked.

"Well I didn't quite know back then, but it was very alluring. I felt like I wanted to know everything about you."

"And now you do," he squeezed her hand.

She shook her head.

"I doubt that."

He gave her a questioning tilt of his head.

"I don't think you tell me everything, and vice versa."

He thought of a few things and knew her statement to be true and he nodded.

"One thing that I love so much about you, Dante…"

She moved to her knees and took both his hands in hers and faced him fully.

"You're half demon. And yet you and your father care for humans and protect us. You know what love is. I don't know if there is an assumed thought with demons, but you are nothing like the word would if you did. It's truly a huge blessing that God put you in my life. I learn so much from you every day and you're so encouraging."

"I love you," came his simple reply.

She smiled and didn't fight it when he crawled towards her, held her cheek, and gave her a few gentle kisses. They broke apart slowly but placed their foreheads together for a moment.

"I better go."

She looked at him with a slightly sad expression but nodded. It was true, any longer and her parent's (dad) would probably pay them another visit. She got off the bed and barely had time to react when he pulled her flush against him, burying his head in her neck to take in her scent once more for the road.

"I love you," she whispered.

He pulled back and placed another kiss to her temple.

"Love you too. See you tomorrow some time?"

She nodded.

"I'll call you."

He nodded before reluctantly releasing her and heading downstairs, only before changing back into human form, and then driving away. She was content to lounge the rest of the evening. Unbeknownst to them both, extremely tough times were right around the corner.

**I can't stress enough for those of you who have been patient with me and are still reading. Thank you so much for understanding my time limitations with college and golf to sit down and write these. I'll keep trying my best to get these up quicker but can't make any guarantees. Hope you enjoyed this update. Thanks guys! God Bless.**


	16. New Surprises

**I'm BACK! I'll get into that later. Let me know your thoughts on the story thus far. God Bless! Enjoy : )**

Claire was quick to beat the sun the next morning out to the lake. But this time she was not there to run, dressed in a simple white Nike tee and jeans, she just wanted a nice prayer walk. She didn't even bother to bring her phone or headphones. She didn't want any distractions.

"God…it's been quite a wild ride these last couple of days, huh?" she stopped and stretched her arms to the sky before dropping them with a heavy sigh.

Unbeknownst to her, she had actually slipped out to the lake without the notice of a certain half-demon. That night, he had stayed like always. Though he left once he knew she was up, also because he wanted to train a little with his father. So, his plan was to wait for her phone call.

She found a bench on one of the levees that jetted out on the lake. Once seated she found she had a view of a large portion of the marina and with that, she could do one of her favorite pass times, which was people-watching. She saw a family just reaching their boat and loading up for a relaxing day on the waters, then to a young dad and his even younger child walking hand in hand the opposite direction. It was just a perfect morning to be there.

But as she was quickly learning, the good times were seemingly getting shorter and more sparse the more she dove into Dante's real world. A quick jolt of frost shot up her spine, like getting a quick douse of cold water from the shower when you first step in. Her eyes moved on their own, and she then stood and turned around completely, looking up to her spot in the distance. On the tip of the ridge stood Vergil. She couldn't tell if he was looking at her, or just scanning over everything. She didn't like that either way. What was he doing here?

Not really thinking much about how Dante would have scolded her to no end for her decision, or the fact that it was extremely foolish of her to even have it pop into her head, she began her trek up there to confront Sparda's other son. He soon disappeared from her view when she made the loop around to the other side of the lake. Starting the steep walk up, she started to wonder why she felt so compelled to be doing this. And also the matter of how dangerous this was started to come to her in waves. Overall she was determined to find answers to why he was so different from his family, and why he was so bent on killing them. With each step closer to the half-demon she felt his presence getting heavier upon her, like always. And this once again brought her back to how different it was to be close to Dante than to Vergil.

The forest broke to the opening but she was cautious and got to the last tree, staying somewhat behind it. He was still standing there, his gaze cast out over the land like a watchdog, unmoving.

"Really, why is he here?" she whispered.

She was often called stubborn by a lot of people, especially those close to her. It was one of the characteristics that she should have worked on. But would suddenly approaching this half-demon like she did be considered stubborn…or really stupid. Either way, she was already halfway to him, now exposed in the open. For a second she was baffled to how he didn't turn to her or sense her there, before she remembered that if she kept calm like Sparda taught her, she would remain under the radar. However, that wasn't her intent right now.

"Vergil."

The sound echoed rather horribly on the silence, she said it a bit louder than she probably should. She knew then that he really didn't sense her because he whirled around, almost jumping at the sudden invasion of privacy. His eyes fell on her, and so did an expression that she could not read. He looked almost speechless that she was standing there. He looked over her for a while. To her it seemed like eternity. His gaze then looked around her for a moment then back to her. He was still and closed his eyes a moment and then gave her another perhaps baffled expression upon opening them.

"You're alone?"

The question was pertaining to how shocked he was that it was true. Dante's presence was nowhere nearby; if anything he barely sensed it at all.

"I never…"

He trailed off. He never sensed her at all. He seemed to be set off by a lot of things, because a look of anger, or frustration, fell over his void features. He started walking towards her.

"You're not human…but you're definitely not a demon either."

Claire felt her heart beating faster as he got closer to her. Suddenly her idea seemed incredibly stupid, but at the same time she knew she had reasons for coming. Though she didn't really think past the fact that you can't have a normal question and answer with this guy. So she swallowed her fear and spoke up.

"Why are you so different?"

Her question actually stopped him halfway to her and he stared. She didn't know what to make of that reaction so she continued.

"It feels so different around you than Dante…and Sparda. Why?"

She felt like she was talking to a caged animal…but without the cage any longer. She had to be careful with her movements and especially her words. But that first question was enough to start the fire of his ego. He gave a wicked grin.

"What does it feel like?" he began walking again.

He stopped right in front of her, less than an arms length away. Claire did her best to calm herself. She knew he could sense her fear and that was exactly what he wanted from her. If there was any way she could get a serious answer from him, she knew she had to be strong. And she decided to change the question.

"Why do you hate humans so much?"

He laughed and took his sword from its holder.

"I know I can't touch you. But we found out that wasn't an issue last time."

He had to admit he was a bit surprised that she didn't move an inch or show any difference in emotion upon his actions.

"Why can't you just answer the question?"

That really struck a cord with him. He was irritated that she showed no fear of him being that close to her, and the way she replied to his threat. He shot his sword at her, only intending to stop short and get her to feel the fear he wanted. Well it was his turn to stare in complete disbelief when she brought her hand up and stopped the sword. She wasn't even touching it. Where the sword was "touching" the middle of her arm, there was a yellow hue, a shield.

Now Claire wasn't one to have an ego. She knew better than to have one because pride and a boastful sense of one's self was not Biblical. But people looking on might have saw her next actions as rather so.

"Guess not," she said in reference to his comment on him being able to touch her with his sword.

His look of surprise melted suddenly and was replaced with anger. He brought his hand up again and brought his sword down towards her again, only to have her once again stop it. No more pauses followed that for a while. He lashed at her quickly and from all angles he could, only to have her simply thrust her hands up and stop the blade in its decent.

"Wretched girl," he said with ire when they broke apart, pushing each other back. "You are not my equal."

Claire was breathing a bit heavier than he was, she noticed, but was amazed that she could even keep up with him. Her movements were happening on their own. Bringing her mind back to focus on the task at hand, Vergil had extended his hand in front of him before it started to glow a deep red.

The ground trembled around her trembled and she had just enough time to react when a pitch-black circle formed beneath her. She jumped back away from it, looking at it in fear and then looking back at Vergil in attempts to figure out what was happening.

"Let's see how well you do faced with endless demons," he said calmly, putting away his sword.

It was here that the magnitude of her idea to confront Dante's brother really came to heart. One by one the bloody creatures shot out of the portal, with blood-curdling screams and roars of agony. They landed one by one, and side by side, each looking at Vergil like he was their leader. And which he was, but it wasn't a command that brought their attention to Claire, it was her smell…the fresh blood.

She cast a trembling glance over how many had come out of the portal, which she only assumed was coming from hell. She couldn't get an exact number but there had to be a couple dozen standing before her, ready to tear her apart. The variety of demons was pretty substantial too. There were dog-like demons that were on all fours, large claws adorned on each li1mb. Others looked as though their flesh was rotting and sliding off their very skin, dripping to the ground like acid. Carrying scythes, grim reaper demons were in the back of the group, with black cloaks hiding their faces, which Claire had no desire to see.

They stared walking slowly towards her, random bursts of guttural growls coming out with each step. She almost let out a scream when they lunged at her. She thrust her hand up and her barrier dispersed and killed a group that touched it on impact. But, she was not used to fighting this many at once. The consequence she paid for keeping her attention on one group for too long came in a terrible slice from a dog-demon right across her back. She screamed and arched her back a moment before reluctantly having to push aside the searing pain and shoot another wave of her destructive energy behind her, killing the culprit demon in the process. She could hear Vergil laughing from behind her when the claws made impact on her, leaving three very long slashes that were starting to drip blood and stain through the white shirt.

Was she going to die like this? And why hadn't Dante arrived yet? Usually he could sense…

And then she realized her fault. By concealing herself from Vergil upon reproach, she was also hiding herself from Dante. She was sure that he could sense her by now, at least she hoped, but even if he did, would he make it to her on time? She was running out of options. Every demon she got rid of, Vergil only summoned more to take its place. She was fighting a very one-sided battle.

In the process she was gaining more cuts on her body, now some on her arms and legs, a few more on her sides and smaller cuts on her face from barely escaping slices that were to take her head off. At one point she was put in the middle of a circle of demons, all new faces to her because she had successfully killed off the inaugural class. But that was all she had left in her, she couldn't keep this up any more. If she didn't come up with an idea soon, she was as good as dead.

She gasped when her foot slid down instead of touching ground behind her and she turned to find that she was at the edge of the cliff, officially cornered. Another issue she faced was her loss of breath due to the fighting, and that she was losing too much blood. The scratch on her back had poured out more that it's fair share of her crimson life force, and mostly all of her white shirt was now naturally dyed. The demons made slightly different noises, and she could tell they were pleased at her situation. But they stopped moving forward when Vergil walked up through them, and they parted to let him. He stopped somewhere between her and the demons, wearing a proud smile.

"So I guess you die here," he said simply. "And not even my brother can save you."

This was what being close to death felt like she guessed. She shot another glance behind her in terror. She wasn't afraid of heights, but this was completely different. And to looking out over the same view she loved so much, with such dread, was unthinkable. Looking back at Vergil she swallowed heavily.

"I do have to admit I am curious to what your last words will be," he grinned, getting dreadful laughs from the demons around him.

Claire took one last look behind her and clenched her fists. If she were going to die here, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being the one to do it. She turned around and faced the cliff.

"Oh," Vergil raised a brow. "What are you doing?"

Her heart was beating so loud it drowned out her hearing. With one last exhaustion of breath, she leapt over the edge. Vergil's eyes widened in surprise at the fact that she actually jumped. The experience was like nothing she had ever felt. The wind was so loud, and her eyes were tearing up with the force it was hitting her. With that her vision was starting to blur but she made out the sight of the demons stampeding over the cliff towards her, determined not to let a fresh meal go to waste. Things seemed to slow down to her, watching the earth move past her in a blur, waiting for the moment of impact she would never see.

_'Why did I…'_

She did wonder that. What had compelled her to jump?

_'Someone will save me…right?'_

Because this really couldn't be the way she would die. She had so much more to do.

_'God…not like this. Please…not like this…'_

There was a brief flash of movement beside her before the arms she had prayed for caught her quickly. The sudden actions momentarily blacked her out, and she returned to consciousness moving horizontally. Slowly moving her eyes up she laid them upon a shine of platinum white hair, casting a glow in the sunlight, followed by his face of fear mixed with shock. Opening her eyes more she came to full awareness he had once again made it just in time to save her. She brought a shaky hand up and barely brushed his cheek.

"Claire!" he gasped and looked down at her upon the unexpected touch. "What the hell happened?"

Her arm dropped and her head fell back and he adjusted her quickly to support her head, as she seemingly went limp in his arms.

"Claire!" he shouted again. "Stay with me here! Don't you dare die!"

It was then that he felt the hot liquid on his hands and he moved her a bit to see his arms were stained with her fresh blood, and then he became fully aware he could smell it and see all of her wounds that covered her body.

"What happened to her?"

He turned to see his father had caught up with him and fell in pace with him as he jumped through the forest to get away from Vergil and the demons, who were in hot pursuit. They were taking the "back roads" to avoid any humans seeing them, and making sure the demons didn't attack any of them either.

"Sure as hell would like to know that myself!" Dante shouted in unbelieving anger. "What was she doing here? And how come I never sensed her leave her house?"

Sparda looked her over with equal concern and knew all this running and movement wasn't doing her any good.

"We need to find a place to put her down, Dante. This isn't helping."

The half-demon turned around to see they weren't any farther away from his brother and the demons than when they started.

"Go as fast as you can and see if you can find some place to stop for a moment," his dad started. "I'm going to try and hold them off or get them to focus on me for a while."

"And what do I do with her then?"

"Well hopefully her wounds will do what they have become known to do and heal themselves."

Dante stewed over the comment for a moment before bursting forward in newfound speed.

"Thanks old man!"

His dad laughed at the comment before landing and kicking up dirt as he slid to a stop and turned to face his son.

"That's right," he laughed to himself. "Let your old man save your a** again."

He drew his sword and shot forward to where he clashed swords with his other son.

Dante was exhausting all his energy to run his top speeds but be gentle at the same time. He had lost track of how far he had been running since splitting with Sparda, but wasn't going to stop until he felt Claire would have enough time to heal, and he for sure hoped her strange powers would do the trick. If they didn't, he had no idea whether or not she would make it, and that was making him sick to his stomach.

But after a few more probable minutes, he found a smaller grouping of trees in what he hoped was the middle of absolute nowhere. He couldn't spot a house or paved road for miles. He landed in the middle of the thicket and carried her on foot over to a wall of bushes that provided a little cover and blocked them from the direction they just came, and the direction that Vergil would be coming from if anything.

He bent down to one knee and placed her on the ground before adjusting to one knee being propped up while he other leg stretched out. He laid her back gently to his bent leg and crossed his opposite arm across her and held her by the waist. By now she was still breathing a bit heavier than he would like, but a clear relief he found was that the smaller cuts that covered her arms and face had disappeared, signaling her powers were healing her slowly.

"Claire."

His voice was very hoarse and dry, almost came out like a choke. He brought a hand up to the side of her head for a moment and then brought it to her back to feel for any difference in her major cuts. When he touched one of her cuts directly she gave a sudden twitch and a small sound of discomfort escaped her and he withdrew his hand as if touching a hot surface.

Her eyes finally opened but she seemed distant and as if looking at nothing. Her breathing was still heavy as if she just got done sprinting, and she looked up at him finally.

"Oh…Dante," she said in a breathy voice.

He was a bit surprised when she suddenly laughed and closed her eyes, adorning a small smile.

"You caught me."

He laughed too, but wasn't able to smile.

"What the hell happened back there? Why were you—"?

She cut him off with a light smack to the face but never opened her eyes.

"Still with the language…"

He couldn't believe this girl.

"Claire…honestly!" he let out a heavy sigh. "You almost died!"

He paused and wanted to add 'again'. Seriously, how many times had it been now? And each time it happened now it was getting more drastic, how much more could she take, he wondered?

"Good thing I have these wonderful healing powers, huh?" she laughed again.

Was she delirious? Perhaps she had lost too much blood?

"Claire, are you feeling okay?"

"Cause I think my dad would kill you if you brought me home like this," she continued as if he never said anything.

He put a hand to her head. She wasn't warm or anything.

"Claire?" he was getting a little worried.

She laughed some more and then brought her arm up and dropped it across her eyes. She continued to shake with laughter, or so he thought. After a moment of just watching her, she let out a sigh and the atmosphere about her changed suddenly. He eventually put it together that the shaking she was doing was no longer from laughing at all. It was made very obvious when he saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"I almost died," her voice shook. "Dante…I was so close to dying."

His eyes widened a bit at how broken and small she seemed to him at the moment. He slowly brought her arm away from her eyes and gently bent down to cradle her close to him. She quickly reached around his torso and held him tightly, seemingly ready to never let him go.

"I was so sure I was gonna die," her voice broke at the end and she fell into silent sobs.

She had been so close to dying countless times before, she knew, but there was something different about this time, something she couldn't explain really. It was just a different feeling all together. When she took that leap of faith, she was only doing it because she refused to let Vergil kill her. It wasn't really clear thinking at the time. Her logic was that if Dante knew Vergil killed her, there would never be a change for forgiveness. But while she was trying to be bold in that sense, how could she ever be sure Dante would know the truth? So in reality, the jump was almost knowingly the last move she would make in her life. With it, there were no false hopes of Dante saving her like she had before. She really thought she was facing the end.

And mentioning that jump, Dante was in total confusion and at a loss. When he arrived on the scene he did it just in time to see that the jump she had made was completely of her own free will. He was worried as to why she had done that, but right now was not the time.

Her breathing slowed to normal and the tears eventually stopped as well. He gave a slight jump when she started to sit up on her own. She moved to feel her back and gave a slight noise of amusement to feel her large cuts were now gone, leaving her looking like the fight never happened, except for the blood stained shirt and the cuts it had sustained.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head and mentally beat herself up.

"Claire you're fine," he shook his head and gave her a smile. "And I'm thankful you're fine."

She continued to shake her head and put a hand to her forehead, leaning into it with a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes. He watched her closely.

"I'm such an idiot."

He didn't know where her comment was coming from but he sighed with a smile and a shake of his head. Silently moving over he got down on his knees in front of her. He moved one hand behind her back and pushed her into him.

"I'm glad you're okay," he repeated. "You're not an idiot."

His move made her jump a moment before she sighed and fell forward into him, putting one hand on his chest and the other rested in her lap.

"I have a lot of questions about what you were doing there in the first place but that can wait," he said quietly, as if the moment called for almost-whispers.

She thought about what he said and then she pulled back a little and looked at him.

"Where is Vergil?"

He blinked at her.

"Sparda stayed behind to distract him so I could get you away and—"

"What's he doing?" she said suddenly, getting up and out of his embrace as well.

"What?" Dante stood up.

"Your father…and Vergil. Tell me they're not fighting," she shook her head.

His silence answered her question. She abruptly turned and started running, but she had no idea where she was going.

"Claire wait!"

He was in front of her instantly, a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I understand what you mean but it's to protect you. He has to fight him."

"No!" she shook her head and stepped back, making his arm drop. "He doesn't. I'm not worth this, Dante."

She moved to sidestep him and he stopped her again.

"You are worth it, Claire. You're safety means more to me than anything."

"No!" she shouted. "I'm safe now. Go and tell your dad to stop."

"Vergil isn't going to stop," he said with growing frustration.

She shook her head again and started to run past him. He turned around, watching her go at her heightened speeds. Why was she being so stubborn? He let out a long breath and muttered some choice four-lettered word before running after her. She had reached the outside of their covering before he got to her.

"Dante, now is not the time," she warned him.

"No it's not. Please stop trying to get yourself killed today!" he said with exasperation.

"Either you let me go stop them or you go and do it yourself!"

He blinked at her.

"And leave you without protection?" he repeated the sentence as if it was the dumbest thing.

"I don't want protection right now!"

"You're right…you **need** it."

She shot him a look.

"Go and stop them from killing each other!" she all but screamed.

"Vergil will kill you if we don't stop him," he pressed.

"I told you I would not let him die because of me!"

She attempted to get past him again only to have him catch her by the wrist.

"Why do you care so much about him, Claire? He wants you dead, don't you get it?"

"Why **don't** you care about him?" she snapped her wrist free. "He's your brother!"

"Why can't I care about you more?" he asked.

"Oh my gosh," she threw her arms up in the air. "You're being ridiculous!"

"Oh I am?" he put a hand to his chest. "I think someone else is playing that card."

She seemed to lose a moment of composure and shot her hand out at him. He brought his hand up and caught her punch. She looked at him in confusion when, after her action, he grew a rather coy smirk.

"Hmm…is the situation getting to you, Claire?"

"You idiot!" she shot her leg up but he caught that too. "This isn't a game!"

He pushed her back a ways, much to her surprise.

"I'll let you go 'save the day'," he air quoted to make the idea sound even more stupid, "if you can get past me."

"Stop messing around!" she shouted, clearly flustered at this point. "We need to stop your family from killing each other!"

She started to run past him, only to have him appear in front of her, stopping her abruptly once more.

"Better start fighting," he continued to boast his proud grin.

"You're pissing me off Dante," she said in a low voice.

"I know I am Babe," he winked.

She started running again, and when he stopped her like the last attempts, she shot a punch at his face and he caught it again. They went into fast (for her) hand-to-hand with him exhausting no effort whatsoever, but Claire using everything she potentially had. Mind you she was still a bit drained from her near death experience.

The next time she threw a punch at his face he swiftly dodged around it and wrapped his arm around her waist, moving it and kissing the side of her head. Just as quickly as he initiated that move, he released her and backed away. He was able to do all of that before it registered in her head what happened.

"Dante!" her hand flew up to her cheek. "Jerk!"

He laughed as he fell back into dodging her easily read punches and kicks and enjoyed it when she gave him another opening. And just like last time, he was swift and unsuspecting. He disappeared and reappeared behind her where he took her head in his hands and bent down to kiss her temple. She was quicker to realize what was happening that time, but still hit nothing but hair when she turned to hit him.

"Stop it!" she was breathing heavy at this point.

"Sorry Babygirl," he laughed. "But you're so damn beautiful right now. I can't resist."

At some point during their quarrel, Sparda had arrived, and was at a complete loss to see Dante and Claire going at it. Sparda had chased Vergil and his army far away in the opposite direction that Dante had left. After beating the remaining demons he made quick work of sealing off Vergil's portal to hell before luring him far enough away that when he took off he was able to lose him and then go find Dante. At least he had hoped it was enough. He had arrived just in time to see the first kiss that Dante had stolen. Why the heck were they fighting? He was pretty sure Claire was close to dying when they had left. The reactions that Claire was having after each stolen kiss from his son, showed Sparda that Dante was perhaps teasing her about something. Claire was doing all she could to try and put up a fight. It wasn't close to a fair one at that. So Sparda decided he was going to help the damsel in distress.

Dante had moved in for another kiss, this time dodging a kick. He went under her leg and moved in to this time kiss her directly, when suddenly there was a flash before him and the last thing he saw was a hand in his face before he was shot back viciously across the ground in a current of intense energy. Claire found herself securely in the arms of Sparda, and speechless at whatever just happened.

"S-Sparda," she blinked up at him and he looked down at her with a gorgeous smile.

"Hello Miss Summers. I apologize for my son's immature behavior."

Regardless of whether or not she was attracted to Dante's father, and mind you she wasn't, he always knew how to make her blush. She adverted her eyes, fully aware of how he was holding her so intimately. He had caught her when his sudden intrusion almost caused her to fall over. One hand was around her waist, and the other had caught one of her hands. It also didn't help that he chose his face to be in close proximity to hers as he stared down at her. It was almost exactly like the time he blew her mind when he first kissed her.

Emerging from the pile of earth he accumulated, the half-demon was at a loss for what just happened. Focusing his eyes they fell upon his girlfriend in the arms of his father, enough to make his blood boil. He got up and stalked across the field.

"What the hell are you doing old man?" he shouted. "Get your hands off her!"

Claire looked at her boyfriend with unease.

"Uh…Sparda," she looked up at him. "Maybe you should let me go."

He laughed; bending down he placed a kiss to her hair. In a rush of wind, Claire was suddenly pushed away from Sparda, who was no longer in front of her, but up in the air clashing swords with his son. Once she gathered herself she let out a huff and shook her head.

"Idiots. It's genetic."

After watching the demons go at if for some time she rolled her eyes, turned and started walking away. She didn't really care where; she was content being anywhere but there. It occurred to her that, after walking for a probable few minutes, they were completely unaware of her leaving.

"Stupid demons."

"I agree."

She turned to her left and gasped to see Vergil watching his father and brother go at it with swords, casually, as if he had been there the whole time.

"But don't compare me to them," he finally turned to her.

She instinctively turned to shout out to Dante but couldn't get it off when he lashed his sword at her, and she was forced to focus on staying alive by fighting him like she had earlier. But she knew that eventually the force of energy that she and Vergil was pushing out would be enough to notify them out of their little fight. Claire was lucky enough that they sensed it almost immediately, but her luck always seemed to run short in some areas.

She couldn't explain what happened. At one point she was able to magnify her energy and concentrate it towards Vergil's sword to where it was knocked out of his hand. She pushed back away from him but her body reacted on it's own and she shot at him. What she intended to do with that action, she had no idea. He had just enough time to react to her onslaught by swiftly jumping to the side. In the process, Claire reached out and grabbed his wrist to avoid falling, but she tripped anyway. She came to a stop, sitting on the ground, but still holding on to his wrist. They both found themselves in a silent stare. Dante and Sparda had rushed over and just got there to see them both unmoving. Reality started to slowly seep back into Vergil and Claire's situation. It was Vergil's eyes that drew Claire's to the issue at hand.

"What?" Sparda then exclaimed into the silence.

Dante turned to his father in question and then looked ahead once again, then finally understanding his father's outburst.

Claire was clearly touching Vergil's wrist, and nothing was happening.

**I know it's not worth the wait, but I hope it's okay at least! I have finals next week then I'm free for a whole month. In that time I will try to focus on this and my other story while balancing my first novel : ) …Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!**


	17. Communication

**Enjoy : ) …..this chapter gets just a little steamy (: O) so just a heads up. Nothing too bad though ; )**

The silence was almost as heavy as the situation. It seemed that the only thing each of them could do was to stare at where Claire was holding Virgil's wrist. In a movement to release her hand, Vergil suddenly grabbed her wrist and yanked her up into his arms. One tightly bound across her torso and arms and the other resting on his sword.

"Well this is odd," he mused and looked down at her.

"What the hell is this old man?" Dante turned to Sparda. "I thought he couldn't touch her!"

"It seems we are all wondering the same thing," Vergil drew his sword and looked down at her. "So why don't you tell us what's going on.

Claire kept trying to wriggle free of his embrace. He brought his sword up to her neck and she stopped, eyeing it with growing fear.

"Vergil I swear…" Dante started, trailing off in rising anger.

His sword was now touching her neck.

"Vergil…listen to me," she started. "…I don't think you mean this."

He looked down at her like she was crazy.

"What's that?" he laughed.

"I know your father…your brother. You're not like this."

Vergil narrowed his eyes and pressed the blade more firmly into her throat.

"I am nothing like them," he hissed.

"Claire stop it," Sparda warned. "Don't say any more."

She looked at him with sad eyes.

"No! I won't be silent about this," she shook her head, the blade brushing past her skin, creating a small cut.

He laughed.

"Are you going to kill yourself?"

She continued.

"Vergil I know there is good in you."

"Do you now?" he mused, clearly enjoying this. "And why do you think that?"

He kept pushing the blade more prominently against her neck, making it harder for her to speak without causing more cuts from the sword, but she refused to stop.

"Because when I am near you I can feel it. Underneath all the darkness I sense the same presence from you as I have with your family."

"Claire stop," Sparda warned again.

From all the small cuts she was practically self-inflicting, blood was now started to trickle down her neck.

"But there is also confliction," she then said, now struggling to speak.

Vergil paused.

"I feel like you're fighting something…"

He growled.

"That's enough," he rose up his sword.

Dante and Sparda both shot forward to stop the action but froze in place when Claire suddenly burst alive with her yellow light. She broke the hold on Vergil, but didn't hurt him in the process. She turned and tackled him to the ground, his sword falling away from him. When she landed she was sitting over him with her knees on both sides of his hips, her hands holding herself up on his shoulders.

"I don't care what your family thinks," she started, in a voice that only Vergil could hear, "because I believe in you Vergil."

The half-demon was at a loss for words, and it showed with his wide eyes and hung jaw. He jumped slightly when a small tear fell onto his cheek. Her eyes were closed and the grip on his shoulders increased.

"It doesn't have to be like this," she shook her head gently, more tears falling onto his face. "Please let me help you."

At this she opened her eyes, giving him a terribly sad but beautiful smile. Her breath hitched when he slowly started to reach up his hand, eyes fixated on hers the whole time.

"Claire," he whispered.

This was a completely different Vergil. And after a moment of just staring back she realized that his presence had also changed. She was feeling the same thing she did around his brother and father.

_'He's so different…'_

Snapping her from her thoughts his hand, which had been moving slowly, finally reached her face. The touch was gentle, soft, and almost non-existent.

"…please…"

Her eyes flew wide when the word left him. Claire removed her hand from his shoulder and placed it over his.

"What is—"

In an instant she was ripped from his touch, and completely away from him altogether, her yellow glow fading immediately. Coming to her senses, it was Sparda who had a firm hold on her as he was running away from his sons.

"NO!"

Her sharp outburst caused him to flinch and look down at her.

"Sparda what are you doing? Take me back! Now!"

"Claire, what on earth—"

She started to fight his embrace and pry at his arms.

"Why did you do that!"

She was furious. Something was different about Vergil. She felt like she was about to uncover why he was so different, where his contempt was coming from.

_'Claire…please…'_

What did he mean?

"Take me back!" she started to hit at his arms as she continued to try and pry herself free. "Damnit take me back!"

He was shocked she swore.

"Claire what the hell is going on with you?" he tightened his grip.

Eventually her struggles ceased and she fell limp in his arms, he could tell she was silently sobbing. When Sparda finally stopped it was at her balcony.

"Looks like your parents are out," he said setting her down.

She folded her arms, avoiding his glance.

"Claire what is wrong? Please."

He moved to put a fatherly hand on her shoulder but she stepped away. The action caught him off guard.

"Please…just go," she said quietly, the tears still coming.

He dropped his hand with a sigh.

"Whatever I did…I'm sorry," he nodded sincerely.

After staying another moment with her in silence he turned and leapt into the now becoming night. She turned and caught of glimpse of him before he disappeared. She slowly headed into her room and fell onto her bed. She turned to see that she had disturbed Samson who was now stretching from being awakened by her movements.

"Sorry Samson," she smiled when the feline headed over and started to rub her head with hers.

She got up and prepared for an early bedtime. She changed into a white tank top that had the word "Dream" written across the middle in blue glitter, and a pair of white matching pants. She shuffled down the stairs and into the kitchen where her parents had left a note explaining they were at a friend's party and she could expect them to get back late. She looked over at the clock to see it was about nine.

When she returned to her room she ran a brush through her hair and got back onto the bed. Samson was content to have her back, and hurried to lay down beside her. She started to stroke her fur as she pulled the blanket up to her, ending just at her waist so she wouldn't cover the cat. She shifted to her side and got her Bible, reading a few chapters in Galatians before setting it aside for the night.

As she soon found when she attempted to sleep, she was plagued with thoughts. Vergil's statement continued to echo relentlessly in her mind. What did he mean? And the way he reached up and touched her cheek, there was nothing violent about any of it.

But no matter how hard she thought about it, she would never know. Sparda had pulled her away a second too soon. It seemed that Vergil was about to explain everything to her. Of course she had no idea, but something told her everything was about to make sense.

There came a thud on her balcony. She sat up the same time Dante slowly peered in through her flowing drapes, as she forgot to shut the door behind her.

"Claire."

His voice was but a whisper, and when he saw her on the bed he finally stepped in. He had cuts all over his body, some still bleeding a bit. His shirt was torn so bad it was practically hanging off of him. She quickly got out of bed and hurried over to him. She ran her fingers gently over a few of the cuts on his neck and face.

"Are you okay?"

The statement should have come from her, but it was he who asked it first.

"Me?" she mused. "You look pretty beat up."

As he placed a loving hand on her cheek she was brought back to what had happened earlier, and where he was coming from.

"What happened with Vergil?"

He paused a moment.

"We fought. He got away again," he sighed, thinking that was the answer she wanted.

"He fought you?" she asked.

He blinked at her.

"Yes…like he always does?" he said with uncertainty.

"But he was acting so differently…"

"What do you mean?" he rose a brow.

She studied him. Had he not heard or saw any of it?

"When he reached up to me he—"

His eyes showed understanding.

"Oh that. Yeah I'm glad my father got you out of there before he could hurt you."

She replayed that sentence over.

"What?"

"When he reached up to choke you we—"

"What!" she exclaimed and subconsciously took a step back.

He paused.

"Did I miss something?"

"Is that what you think?" she said in surprise.

"Claire?" he looked at he.

"He wasn't going to choke me! He wasn't gonna hurt me at all."

"Oh here we go," he rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.

Her mouth hung at his comment.

"What does that mean?" she demanded.

"Claire, what will it take for you to get it?"

She watched him in silence.

"Vergil wants you dead. And he isn't going to stop unless we stop him."

"Stop him?" she repeated with rising anger.

"You know what I mean!" he exclaimed.

"He's your brother!"

"**You** mean more to me than **him**!"

She gave a slight jump at how loud he was getting.

"I promised you I would protect you no matter what, Claire."

"And I told you I wouldn't let you kill him because of me!" she stepped forward and pressed a finger to his chest in emphasis.

He grabbed her hand.

"That's impossible! It's you or him!"

He had grabbed her by her shoulders so he could get her to look at him.

"I hate it when you're upset but I won't let you get hurt!"

"Let go of me, Dante," she warned.

He let her go immediately following her request. She turned away in anger but stopped beside her bed.

"Just go," she said, not unlike the way she said it to his father.

He focused his eyes on her.

"I said get out!" she turned back to him.

He didn't know what it was, but something inside of him just snapped at that. He rushed up to her and grabbed her by the arms before pushing her down and pinning her to the bed beneath him.

"I don't care if you hate me!" he started. "I'm going to protect you whether you like it or not!"

She stared up at him in shock of his actions.

"I told you to lea—"

He had bent forward and caught her lips in an embrace, silencing her reminder that he leave. After a moments hesitation of being caught off-guard, she began to struggle beneath him, trying to free her arms. He merely held her tighter and deepened the kiss. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing, and there was a hint that he didn't care. He truly hated having her anger directed at him.

While stewing over his inability to control himself at the moment, Claire freed one of her arms. Sending more confusion into his thoughts he was shocked when she brought up her hand to pull him down closer behind his neck. His other arm moved to support his weight over her, which allowed her other arm to grip his shoulder. In an attempt to shift his weight to a more comfortable position her hand gripped a tear in his shirt, and ripped it further. Consequently, her hand then slipped under the fabric and rested on the smooth skin of his now exposed shoulder.

Her sudden presence on his skin caused a moan to escape him, and in an instant he had broke the kiss and ripped what little remained of his shirt clear off his body. Her eyes widened at the action but he went right back to kissing her soundly. Her hands slid down from his neck and shoulder, and rested on his chest. Her touch was electrifying to him, as he had never been with her like this before.

She could feel her heart racing, because this was new to both of them. Deep down she knew they needed to stop this before it got too far, but reason was far out of reach. He finally moved from her mouth to her neck, only after trailing kisses to get there. She shivered when he placed a long kiss upon it. One of her hands fell a little lower, and she could feel his toned abs beneath her fingers. They seemed to flutter at her touch, and he gave another sound of enjoyment.

She gasped only to have him swallow it by claiming her lips again. One of her hands slid around to his back and he brought his own underneath her to lift her up into the kiss.

"We should stop," she said breathlessly when he broke to breath.

It was true. He knew he needed to stop soon, or he might not be able to control himself from going over the edge. But having her like this was something he had wanted for so long he wasn't sure he would be able to restrain.

He lowered her back to the bed and his hand slid down her side to where it moved under her shirt just enough to rest on her waist. The action shot a wave of sensations up her spine.

"We can't," she barely managed before he kissed her.

Dante knew that she wouldn't be able to stop on her own, because he knew the effect he had with his demonic blood. If this was going to stop, he had to be the one to do it. With tremendous effort, he removed his hand from her skin and then slowly broke the kiss. They stared at each other for endless moments, unsure about what just happened between them and what the other would do next.

She was thankful that he was able to stop, as if she knew he had to be the one as well. In hopes to sway what happened she sat up, him moving with her, and embraced him quietly, thankful that the blanket came with her to cover up his physique and avoid contact with it alone at the same time.

"I'm sorry," he pulled her flush. "I don't know what came over me…"

Her response of laughing made him smile.

"Dummy."

He laughed back.

"You're right…I'm the biggest dummy in the world."

"My dummy," she smiled into his shoulder.

Claire was content to drift off in his embrace, to where he slowly lowered her down and covered her up. Taking his side beside her he closed his eyes and stayed for the night.

**Yay faster updates! : ) Please keep those comments/criticisms coming. God Bless!**


	18. No More Lies

**Shweet it's ready! Enjoy **

"You stayed all night."

It wasn't a question but a statement. She could feel the weight of him beside her. She finally opened her eyes, focusing on the drapes flowing slowly, remembering she had still not closed the balcony door. His hand stroked her hair and she sat up. Stretching felt good, and she took some time with it. Dropping her arms with an exhale, she finally turned to face him.

"What!"

Her exclamation made him jump, but he merely stared at how she flew back, falling off the bed with a hurtful thud.

"Claire?"

He crawled across the bed and looked down to see her sprawled on the ground. The thing that really caught his attention was the fact that her pajamas were stained with blood in random places.

"What happened?" he pointed in alarm.

She looked at him and then followed his finger to see the stains for herself. He was quick to answer his own question.

"Ah crap," he ran a hand through his hair. "Last night when we…"

Her face was red as a cherry at his trail off.

"Well you know…anyway, I was still bleeding a little and it got all over you. I'm sorry about that."

"Oh…that's…"

She looked away and he noticed, if possible, that her blush got bigger.

"…fine…" she finished.

"Did I do something wrong?" he finally asked.

"N-No," she looked back at him.

After studying her for a moment he noticed that she was looking at him, but not into his eyes. She was looking just a little lower and that was when he realized he was still shirtless.

"Oh," was all he said.

He then laughed and flashed her a smile before getting off the bed, "I gotcha."

She gathered herself and got up, trying to keep her eyes away from him long enough for him to put his shirt back on. In an instant, she felt a gust a wind and then a knock on her door.

"Claire, mind if I come in?"

She ran a hand through her hair, casting a glance around the room to see that Dante was good at getting out when he had to. By chance, she caught sight of herself in the mirror on the door.

"Hold on a second!" she all but shouted. "Not decent!"

She was referring to the fact that she was still wearing the blood-stained shirt from last night. She took off her shirt and quickly put a random blue one over her before she tore off her pants like an NBA player getting of the bench. She jumped into them pretty easily but wobbled and fell to the ground with a horrid thud, her elbow taking most of the impact.

"Claire?"

She looked over to see her mother was starting to open the door to check what the noise was. She shot up and slammed the door shut, casting her mom back a bit both in force and surprise.

"Almost done!"

She turned back to the discarded shirt and shoved it under her covers before casting a hurried glance over her room. She finally went over and opened the door.

"Hi!" she said a little too excitedly, and breathing a bit heavy from her adventure.

Her mother merely stared at her for a moment.

"What was that?" her mom looked around the room.

"What was what?" she said a little too quickly.

Only raising her brow at her daughter's bizarre behavior, she dropped it and walked past her, sitting on the bed and stretching a little. Claire shut the door and plopped down beside her.

"I was wondering if you had any plans today," her mom looked out the doors of the balcony, which were opened.

"I'm probably going over to Dante's."

Her mom paused and looked at her.

"Who?"

It was Claire's turn to look at her mom in a long moment before realizing her mistake.

"What?" was all she could say in her lapse.

"You said Dante."

"O-oh yeah," she laughed and shook her hand and tried to get out of that one. "It's a character in a book I'm reading."

_"Oh yeah," she thought. "That made perfect sense, Claire."_

Somewhere in the distance a half-demon couldn't help but laugh. Karen confused her daughter when she laughed at that.

"Dante?" she gave her a crooked grin. "What? You reading Dante's Inferno or something?"

She blinked at her.

"What?" was all she could say.

"Dante's Inferno. You know, the famous 12th century divine comedy by Dante Aligheiri?"

"Mom what are you talking about…seriously…"

Karen laughed again and ruffled her daughter's hair.

"You really don't know? Never heard of it at all? The book where the author writes a comedy about a period in his life? The character's name is Dante and he travels through the stages of hell and meets a guide named Virgil and…"

"What?" Claire interrupted. "Are you being serious right now? This is a book?"

Karen nodded, a bit confused at Claire's reactions.

"Yes? Why does this surprise you?"

Realizing she should probably change the subject to be safe she merely laughed and shook her head.

"It's nothing," she waved her hand again. "Just sounds really dumb."

The half-demon laughed again. Her mom shook her head.

"It's actually a really great read. You should flip through it some time. I'm sure it's posted online somewhere knowing you kids and your technology nowadays."

"Maybe," she shrugged. "But anyway, what I meant to say is that I'm off to Devin's house."

"Oh, okay. You're father and I are going to the lake. Sarah's parents are having a party and they rented the beach house. Pretty sure Jordan and Madison will be there. And I'm sure your other friends will be there too. You're all graduated after all. There probably isn't much else to do."

"I might stop by later, sounds fun," she smiled.

"All right," her mom got up. "I'll hold you to that."

As she headed over to the door, Claire asked, "Casual thing?"

"Yep," she nodded.

Once she left, Claire sighed and fell back on her bed and covered her face with her pillow. Another gust and she knew Dante was back in the room, though she didn't bother to look.

"You're really funny, you know that?" his voice sounded beside her. "A book you read, huh?"

Claire groaned.

"Shut up…you would be eavesdropping, wouldn't you?"

He laughed again.

"I can't really help it. My ears are pretty sharp."

"My ears are pretty sharp," she repeated with a mocking voice.

"Cute," he laughed. "Very cute."

She felt him now get onto the bed. There was a weight on either side of her by her waist and the same by her head, and she knew he was sitting over her.

"So…" he started. "Going to my house today, huh?"

"I get it, you heard everything," came her muffled yet annoyed voice.

He started to take the pillow away but she gripped it tighter and held it there.

"No," she said.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't—"

She had moved it and was exposed to him hovering over her, still without a shirt.

"DAN—"

He shot his hand over her mouth to silence the shout that would no doubt get her parent's up here in confusion. Her face had flared instantly, bright as the sun, underneath his hand. She started to squirm underneath him and try to pry his hand off.

"Claire you gotta be quiet," he hushed.

She managed to remove his hand.

"I told you to get a shirt!" she hissed.

He got off her and pointed to the shirt he had last night, as it lay tattered and torn on the floor.

"Remember?" he sighed. "I kinda tore if off me last night."

Memories of this move flooded into her and he couldn't believe it, but she kept getting redder. She adverted her eyes, really not knowing what to do with the situation. From behind her, she heard the door shut on the SUV outside and knew her parents were leaving.

"She turned back to see that Dante had covered himself up with her comforter, and an innocent face adorned his features.

She actually laughed and shook her head.

"Out."

He paused.

"I gotta change."

He gave that sly smile and before he could say any perverted comment she had thrown a pillow at his head and chased him out, which caused him to drop the blanket and give her another look at his physique. The day, as she checked the weather, was just another one of those usual summer days; cloudless skies, a light breeze, temperatures no higher than mid eighties.

"Sun dress day," she stretched with a sigh and headed to her closet.

She enjoyed her sundresses, so she had quite a few to choose from. Every color of the rainbow and then some. She decided to go with light red, since it accented her hair well and it was just a red day, she mused. It was a sleeveless dress that went down to her knees. The straps were about an inch thick and had to be tied above her shoulders, where the ribbons fell untamed down to her elbows. She had a thing for ribbons. To finish the look she put on a pair of comfy red sporty flip-flops. She ran a brush through her shoulder length locks and was ready to go. She went out on the balcony and when she shut the doors behind her, she heard him land behind her and put his arms around her.

"God, you're beautiful," he smiled into her hair, taking in his treasured scent.

She took in a breath and let it out slowly.

"Yes He is."

He laughed into her hair.

"Dante…you better have a shirt on."

"…and if I don't?"

She turned around, breaking his soft embrace and looked up into his face so that she couldn't see the rest directly. She cursed her keen peripheral vision.

"Forgive me, " he put his hands up with a smile. "But I can't change till we get to my house."

"I can run pretty fast on my own now," she folded her arms.

"You don't want me to carry you?" he frowned a little.

She studied him a moment.

"I do. But I can't have you carry me like that," she pointed to his torso but her eyes didn't leave his.

"Well I'm a gentleman and can't let you run there when I'm here. You got way too pretty to get all sweaty right?" he reached up and held some strands of her hair.

She tinted at the action and slowly pushed his hand away. He rose a curious brow.

"Are you really mad?"

She shook her head and looked him right in the eyes again.

"I'm only going to say this once so listen…because it's so embarrassing."

He watched her as she rose her hands up and cupped his face.

"You're hard enough to resist with clothes on…idiot."

Her face was flaring once again as she lowered her hands and looked away. She didn't see the huge smile that he was now boasting until he took her face and kissed the top of her head.

"We really gotta hurry now," he said.

Before she could say anything he picked her up.

"Because you are being completely unfair, Babygirl."

She realized she was once again touching his skin and she really hoped he would hurry to his house. But the last comment got her thinking.

"You're the one being unfair," she mumbled.

He leapt to the sky.

"You're right," he landed on a tree branch and burst forth. "I'm being unfair, but you're torture."

She watched him in wait for an explanation.

"You say something like that to me…and I can't kiss you after?" he looked down at her.

He didn't even have to look at her, he knew she was a tomato.

"…hell, can't even technically touch you."

He got no reply from his flustered girlfriend and decided it was a good time to stop before the blush became permanent.

_ "…the power that can silence the darkness…said to be nothing more than a legend…lost with time…"_

"And what are you up to?"

Sparda looked up to see his lovely Eva leaning towards him on the other side of his desk. He smiled, shutting the book, getting up and moving around to embrace her.

"Just catching up on my reading."

Eva had come in from gardening in the backyard to see her husband headlong in the many books of their rather large library in the back of their mansion-like house. When you walked in you saw that the far wall was made entirely of glass, which was angled to always allow sun to be in the room as it was parallel with its movement across the sky. The bookshelves were on the left. There were twelve total and they stood tall, almost touching the already high ceiling. On the right of the room were various desks up against the walls with a large one in the center and just behind it a fireplace. It was the center desk that was Sparda's. The space between the shelves and his desk was pretty substantial, as with a love of reading, Eva and Sparda also had a thing for dancing. Sparda thought it would be the perfect place, instead of adding another whole room for dancing. The room in its entirety had a very hospitable and soothing atmosphere.

"You spend too much time here," she smiled up at him.

He kissed her.

"I know."

"But that is why we built this library anyway…you love your books."

"Not as much as you," he stole another kiss.

She gave him a sly smile.

"You're pretty cheesy."

He dipped down and kissed her deeper, moving a hand to the back of her head to hold her there till he was content. She looked up at him with loving wonder when they parted.

"Our son and future daughter-in-law are almost here. Why don't you go and welcome them?" he twirled her once before releasing her.

She giggled, the youth that she still had within her coming to the top for a moment.

"You think so too, huh?" she smiled, more to herself.

He gave her a wink to where she left him as quickly and quietly as she came. The smile he watched her leave with slowly fell off his features as he turned and picked up the book he was just reading. It was a very old book, also nameless; there was no title, just a black front and back. The cover was passed the stages of worn, and almost hanging off the spine, which was also in bad shape. The pages were a dark aged-yellow and some were missing entirely. It wasn't typed either, every word was hand written with in a style that you would never see today. He really couldn't even remember when or where he had bought it. He opened it and continued skimming random parts where he left off.

_"...the evil that threatened to destroy the world would return. Her writings were discovered posthumously, an exact date was never found."_

Sparda's furrowed his brows further and skipped a few pages.

_"From the times I was with her, I learned that she was a very spiritual person."_

_ "…relied on God for everything in her life."_

He flipped a pretty big grouping of pages, almost to the end of the book now.

_"…countless people were slaughtered. There seemed to be no end to them."_

_ "…he could summon them at will. They broke through the Earth, from the very pits of hell, I do not doubt."_

He turned to the last page.

_"…by the end of it she had left us, but not without hope, for the future we would not see. For she knew they would be back, she couldn't silence them forever. _

_ "She said her power would be..." _

_ "She was not the one who could. There would be another. The one."_

The end of that section was smeared and beyond readable. There were many parts of the book that seemed to be like that, but they didn't appear to be major parts, however that part angered him a little. He was starting to remember having read this book a long time ago, and something told him he knew he had become frustrated the first time he found that part missing. His eyes left the sentence and question and fell to the bottom of the page.

_"…until a girl is born…"_

They were the last words of the book, which stood out the most to him, and all he did was reread them seemingly over and over. He was actually so deep in thought, just staring blankly at the sentence that he jumped when the door to the library opened once more. He shut the book on impulse and looked up to see Eva followed by Claire then his son…who he noted was shirtless. Standing up, he rose an amused brow.

"Must have been good last night," he smiled to Claire when they reached his desk.

The blush came back in full swing and she glared daggers at the demon. Dante laughed.

"Now, Honey," Eva put her hand on his shoulder. "That's enough."

"A perfect 10," Dante stretched casually, continuing the tease. "She performs like a dream in be—"

He was silenced when Claire turned and shot a current of her powers directly to her fist, transferring them through a punch straight to his face. He was sent crashing back across the spacious room, and thankfully he was able to stop himself before going through the wall by the doors.

"…oh my," Eva covered her mouth with her hand.

Sparda was speechless watching his son bounce across the floors like a kickball before turning to see Claire was back to glaring at him with her fist raised and ready for another blow if necessary. In a scared shuffle he moved behind Eva.

"…right," he laughed nervously. "I'm sorry."

She lowered her fist and then smiled, "Hi Dad."

He blinked at her sudden change of atmosphere but stepped out from behind his wife to give her the hug she was offering him.

"Hello, Dear," he smiled at her after they broke apart. "Heck of a punch you got there."

She turned around to see that her boyfriend was now up and brushing himself off.

"He deserved it. That mouth of his will get him killed," she folded her arms.

They heard him laugh as he turned around to leave.

"Be right back," you could hear his teasing smile. "Gotta make sure I'm covered up for Her Majesty."

Sparda looked at her.

"Are you mad because he's shirtless?"

"This rockin' bod is so d*** hot she can't handle it!" Dante laughed.

In a flash, Claire was gone from beside them. The doors slammed shut the moment Claire reached them, meaning Dante had narrowly escaped what would probably have been a life-threatening blow. She turned back to them with a huff of annoyance before finally making it back to them.

"Sorry for both of them," Eva gave a nervous laugh. "I completely understand how you feel."

She brushed it aside.

"Hey," Sparda put his hands up. "I'm being good now."

When both girls turned and gave him looks that showed they were not amused he swallowed hard.

"Right…I'll shut up."

Claire was now free of the situation to get a good look of the library. She knew they had one, but she had only peeked in it when it wasn't well lit, she had no interest in reading so it wasn't something she was going to explore too much.

"I guess you really love reading," she said with her back turned.

"Well he does," Eva answered.

That made Claire think of the book her mom mentioned this morning.

"How are these arranged?" she walked towards the shelves.

"Alphabetical. I'm too lazy to do it by genres or anything like that," he answered. "A starts on the left."

She moved to the A section then slowly scanned it down and then back up the shelf next to it and found the section she was looking for. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books she walked past till she stopped and looked back and forth between a group of books.

"You like to read, Claire?" came Sparda's voice from around the corner.

"Hmmm…guess he doesn't have it," she said to herself before leaving the shelves to join them.

"Don't have what?" he asked her.

She laughed to herself. Of course he would hear that. Demons…

"Oh…this morning my mom was talking to me about a book called Dante's Inferno or something like that. I wondered if you had it."

"I do," he said and headed over above the fireplace and pointed to the books on the mantle. "This is where I keep all of my favorites. It's here," he pulled it out. "Why on Earth were you talking about this of all books?" he laughed and handed it to her.

"I knew it," she laughed. "You named your sons after the characters in this book, didn't you?"

He paused and looked at her a moment before giving a laugh. Eva smiled.

"What are you a detective?" he started. "Yes that is exactly right," he took the book back and re-shelved it.

"He's loved that book the moment it came out," she turned to him. "One of his favorite comedies.

They couple to talk about the book and what not amongst themselves and didn't notice Claire's moment of silence and stare at Sparda while the gears in her head started to turn. When Eva looked at her she rose a brow in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"What did you mean by…the moment it came out?"

Sparda adorned another grin.

"What do you think I mean?"

"No way…really?" her jaw hung.

"Another trait of full demon, Claire."

"So how old are you?" she asked cautiously, probably not really wanting to know.

"Oh I lose track nowadays…nine something," he looked up in thought.

"N-nine…as in 900?" she exclaimed.

"Something like that," Eva shrugged.

"I look good don't I?" he struck a model-pose with his hands on his hips.

Claire's astonishment vanished.

"You'd think," she started, giving him a look. "…that with all those years there would be some maturity."

His face fell and Eva couldn't contain her laughter.

"Anyway," Claire continued. "If you're that age then what the heck is Dante's?"

"Well for now he's 19 like you know," Eva started. "But we have no idea what will happen with him because he and his brother are the first of their kind."

"You mean the first half-demons?"

They nodded. The door opened to reveal Dante, now clad in a blue shirt with three horizontal white stripes running across the chest and jeans.

"Babygirl," he started, brushing the hair from his eyes. "I'm going to kiss you the moment I reach you. Just a heads up," he flashed a very Dante-like smile.

Claire tinted yet again. Sparda and Eva smiled.

"And you need to say this why?" she watched him get closer.

"Cause I don't need another hit like that…ever," he said, almost there.

"That was because you were running your mouth."

"Just being careful."

And he really wasn't kidding. The moment he reached her he embraced her swiftly and kissed her, all at once. Regardless of the days events thus far and his more than idiotic behavior and comments, she was happy to be back in his arms. She smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. He broke slowly, stole one last quick one, then finally parted from her completely.

"Worth the wait…you have to be careful what you say around me," he smiled down at her. "Because that last comment before we left your house about drove me insane."

She knew what he was talking about and gave him a lame look.

"I'm done now," he reassured her.

"Good boy," she reached up and patted his head.

"You sure hit hard though…d***," he rubbed his head.

She rose a finger to his lips.

"What will it take for you to stop swearing?" she shook her head.

He smiled and playfully bit her finger, which she withdrew with a giggle and got his smile to increase as he bent down for another kiss. By chance, Dante caught a look from his father that was asking to have a word with him in private. He stared a few moments before looking down at Claire with a smile.

"Why don't you go help Eva in the garden?"

She raised her glance to his.

"Okay?"

He laughed and kissed her nose.

"I could use some help," Eva smiled.

The demons couldn't help but laugh when the two most important people in their lives linked arms and skipped out of the room, chanting some sort of makeshift lullaby thus inspired by the whim of the moment. The door shut behind them, echoing throughout the spacious room before residing back into the natural sound.

"What is it?" Dante's face was serious and his words sounded no less.

He knew that whenever his dad had that look, doubled with the need for it to be a private meeting, that it wasn't going to be anything he wanted to hear.

"I visited with Andrew last night," he started. "Something's wrong."

Meanwhile, Claire was carefully digging small holes beside Eva in the garden to put in new plants.

"You sure you don't want an apron?" Eva patted the soil around a freshly placed flower.

"I'm fine," she assured with a laugh. "I'll be careful."

"Please do. Don't want that pretty dress of yours getting ruined because of me!"

"Washable, Eva. Washable."

"Well then how 'bout this," she took the next flower and started placing it. "I don't want to make more work for your mother."

Silence.

"So…" Eva finished patting the dirt around the flower.

Claire laughed without looking up from digging another flower's final resting place.

"So?" she finally said.

"How are things with you and Dante since getting back together?"

Claire clasped her hands together, raising them above her head in a stretch.

"Doing fine. We just need to make sure we take it slow," she dropped her hands. "I hope that we've both learned that we need to go to each other with our problems and then think of our actions…"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," she nodded. "I hope he's behaving himself too," she finally looked at Claire.

"At times…there are moments when—"

Claire had stopped midsentence when she sensed something behind her. Turning she gasped to see Andrew of all things.

"Andrew?" Eva exclaimed for both of them.

Upon closer inspection of his character, they could see that he looked a bit roughed up and out of breath, with small cuts in his clothes and skin.

"What are you doing here?" Eva rushed up to him.

He smiled, but it was only Claire that noticed it looked false and forced.

"I need to speak with Sparda for a moment. Is he here?"

"He's in the library, here," she started to motion she would take him.

He stopped her with a hand to her shoulder.

"It's just a little private," he continued to give that fading smile. "Sorry."

She laughed, and moved aside.

"Okay. I'll let you boys have your little quiet time. Only if you promise to stay a little bit if you can. We've missed you."

He gave her a nod and hurriedly went into the house.

"What a pleasant surprise," Eva turned to her but she was very stoic, and not sharing the same happy feelings as her.

"What?"

Claire didn't move, react to the question, advert her eyes, nothing. But she did, rather, run into the house, leaving the mom very confused behind her. She ran through the living room, past the dining hall and down the stairs to the library where a sharp exclamation paused her motions outside of the library door.

"When?" came Dante's shocked voice.

"I came as soon as I learned. What could we possibly do if it's true?"

"There's nothing we can do," said Sparda, very troubled. "People are going to die by the hundreds."

Her eyes went wide.

"We need to do it fast," started Andrew. "Demons are running around up here now. I can't tell you how many have gotten free. But even one is too many."

Claire gasped at what she was hearing. Apparently the gate to hell was open and demons were on Earth having a hay day. And it was then she realized that a large group of her loved ones were gathered unsuspectingly at the lake. She shot upstairs and out the door, streaking past Eva as a blur.

"What?" Dante exclaimed as the three demons turned to the doorway.

"That was Claire," said Sparda.

"Oh no, she heard us!" Dante started. "If I know her she's going to the lake to make sure everyone is okay."

"We gotta stop her!" Andrew said as they took off. "She'll attract all of them to her!"

The three demons took off out the door, but Sparda quickly picked up Eva so she wouldn't be left behind unprotected.

"What's going on?" she gripped her husband.

"Andrew has reason to believe the gate to hell's seal has been broken…or at least damaged. There is the possibility that demons are here and Claire overheard us. She's gone to make sure her parents and friends are okay."

Eva's jaw hung in shock and she looked ahead to see they had caught up enough to spot her running ahead of them.

But their trek was stopped when hoards of demons came between them and Claire.

"Guess you were right!" Sparda looked at Andrew and put Eva down before receiving his sword from the ground, as did his son and Andrew.

"We don't have time for this!" Dante slashed through a horned demon. "Claire stop!"

But she merely continued running, either unaware of their ambush or not caring to stop, for fear she would be late getting to them. She ran across the fields, the roads, not caring if anyone saw her using her powers. She got to the lake where she took to the trails that would lead her to the beach house. It was when she was almost there her stomach cringed upon seeing a demon coming at the beach house, a little ahead of her.

With a sudden adrenalin rush she shot forth and managed to shoot a quick flash of magic through it. When she cleared through the falling ashes she was sure her heart stopped. It wasn't just one demon to worry about. It looked as though the entire party had been herded like sheep to the outside, circled by the anxious feeders. She finally reached the demonic mob. From a quick scan it appeared that she had arrived just in time before anyone was in danger.

"**HEY**!" she brought her hands to her face and shouted with all she had.

Everyone, demon and human, turned about to see her standing there, somewhat out of breath. Her family and close friends were startled to see her there, but her parents broke out of their stares first.

"Claire get out of here!" her dad shouted.

It amazed her that her dad, regardless of his lack of understanding of the situation, though he probably deducted well off these things weren't friendly, only cared that she be safe and not him. She was very aware that she needed to take care of this, as she was the only one who could. Dante's presence was very faint.

"How about you play with me instead?" she provoked them.

She never thought she would be as happy as she was to see one demon after another gain growing interest in her. And even more relieved that they all had, and were now moving towards her.

"Yeah that's right," she said to herself with a laugh. "Come work for your lunch."

Oh but how the moment really seems to make people very forgetful and unaware of consequences. Claire fully realized that by defeating these demons, she would be exposing her powers to everyone. Not just a few commoners, no. Her parent's, close friends, and family friends.

"Not like I got a choice now," she grumbled.

But seeing as the alternative to this was to let them all die instead of knowing…And in an instant they had shot out to her, bearing fangs and claws anticipating to tear through her like paper.

"No, no," she then laughed. "Come and get it!"

She decided that it was best to lure the demons away and then she could think of a really good story to give everyone about what the heck demons are and why she managed to get away from them, and why she thought she could in the first place. It was a great idea, as she had turned and ran as fast as she could while still making it look normal, except that it was apparent that demons had brains that could figure out her plan.

Because it was when she had managed to only cover about a football field away from them, the demons stopped and turned back to the easier meal. And since her parents had moved away from the crowd as they ran after their daughter in fear of her life, they were the first ones who would be reached. In a flash Claire disappeared and reappeared in front of her parents. It took them a moment to register she was no mere inches before their eyes considering she was an ant in the distance not a second ago.

"Claire!"

The demons gathered in front of her and were about to overtake them when Claire brought her hands up and unleashed her powers full-force. She hated the feeling of doing this in front of her parents and she only wanted to do it once. It was not going to make any difference, but she didn't care either way. What would they say? First thing that came to her mind was that they would soon know she had these strange abilities for a while and that meant she was lying to them, keeping it from them. Claire had never betrayed the respect that she had from her parents. The idea made her sick.

There was also the possibility of rejection, she would have to consider that too. It wasn't just her parents witnessing her little show, everyone she called a friend also had a front-row seat. She wondered if being an outcast was possible. They knew her for her, but this could really overshadow that fact. And if civil conversation was possible after this, what would she tell them? What would they want to know?

Eventually the demons were burned to nothing and she let down her arms. They fell to her sides limp, and she dared not turn to take in any expressions. For a place booming with noises a moment ago, it was now deathly silent. The combination of that and not seeing any of them was almost driving her mad.

"…what…"

She flinched as the word left her dad. She painstakingly turned to see what she had expected. Jaws were hung, eyes were huge and refusing to blink in fear of waking up any second now, and nobody moved a muscle.

"Claire what the heck was that!" he shouted.

Perhaps she could call herself grateful when another grouping of demons had joined the party. She moved past her stunned parents to swipe a hand in front of her and shot a line of energy through them, slicing them in two before the light engulfed them and left nothing. But they didn't stop there. Claire found herself in pinball mode, bouncing here and there and seemingly all over as she sliced through demons that made attempts to either get at her parents or her friends who were still in one group.

With each use of her powers Claire became conscious of two things. One was the fact that there could be no going back to a normal life anymore. And the other was that she could feel herself draining. It wasn't clear how much longer she could keep up with the seemingly endless groups of demons. It was a safe bet that the seal to hell truly had been broken.

By chance she turned and was shocked to see that Dante had arrived out of nowhere, standing just beyond her parents, and with Sparda, Eva and Andrew. But pushing the surprise aside she noticed that he was in his human form. From the looks of it the three demons were trying to assess the situation. Dante's face fell when he realized that Claire had exposed her powers. But under it all he was also concerned for how tired she was becoming and he could sense more than enough demons were still on their way.

Claire had sliced through another pair of demons before making her way back to her parents. But the moment she reached them all she could do was fall to her knees in front of them in exhaustion.

"Claire!" her mom was by her side in concern that overrode curiosity.

Her dad joined her as they tried to figure everything out at once.

"What the hell is going on!"

From behind them, Jordan, Sarah, and Madison had finally emerged from the crowd and were rushing over to Claire and her parents. A grouping of three cloaked grim reapers with death scythes found their split to be a great opportunity and made a bee-line for them. With her body refusing tremendously, Claire had shot out of her parents embrace and barely managed to produce enough energy to destroy them. But with that final attack she was now exhausted of all her powers and could only fall to the ground.

But since their enemies don't play by the rules, never going for a man when they are down didn't count. A bull demon, with horns that curled by the sides of his head, and a body that was engulfed in flames, shot out from the trees to claim her.

Since Dante had been trying to figure if it was worth it or not to change, he found his answer at that moment. A secret wasn't worth keeping if the main reason you live is dead because of it. He thrust his hand out to catch his sword from the ground and shot towards his girlfriend, letting the world, his friends and Claire's, her parents, get their first exposure of whom he really was.

**Ooooo, a cliffy. I really liked writing this chapter! Woo hoo. Read and review and all that fun stuff. Like I said, VERY excited to get this up and moving. Hope you like it! God Bless!**


	19. Face To Face

**Hello again! I'm very thankful to all who are reading this and am happy to note that this story has gotten more readers. Yay! This is actually half of the chapter that was supposed to be next. I haven't updated for so long that it wasn't fair to keep you waiting any longer so I cut off a piece to let you have something. It was supposed to be done tonight but I kept finding myself writing more and more. At least I have over half the next chapter done already as well. Thanks for reviews and favorite adds! Enjoy.**

All eyes were drawn to him as he leapt through the air, sword in hand. The flames of his transformation engulfed him momentarily, like a comet entering the atmosphere. When he landed in front of Claire the fire dispelled and there he stood in front of her, in front of her parents, in front of everyone who thought they knew him. Claire looked upon him as if he were a complete stranger. What the heck were they supposed to do now? Her glance fell on her parents to see they were both so shocked they had fallen forward in shock, their legs giving out on their trek to protect their daughter from the coming demon.

His sword had long since slashed through the said approaching demon, which split in two, sending a geyser of blood through the air. He was beside her now, before her eyes could figure it out, and he was asking her if she was okay. She slowly looked into his eyes and he could see she was deeply troubled. He was as well, but his concern for her was overriding the consequences of his actions at the moment.

"…Dante you should never…"

"That demon would have killed you. There wasn't another option."

Her glance went back to her parent's and, beyond them, her friends.

"Oh, Dante…what are we gonna do now?" she clutched at his arm.

He had left her side after a moment of silence was shared between them, only because more demons had arrived. To make matters more troublesome, or perhaps it didn't matter anymore, Sparda and Andrew had joined in the fun. Eva ran over to Claire. Even if she could do nothing to help the situation, Claire was just happy to have her near at the moment.

One after the other, the demon trio sliced through the monsters, casting body parts all over the setting, while the people looked on in absolute horror.

"Andy, Dante! I'm going to try and find where these things are coming from."

Dante let out an angry growl upon slicing through another monster.

"Yeah you go and do that! Not like it ****ing matters anymore!"

Sparda placed his sword on his back before leaping away from the scene and out of sight over the trees of the surrounding foliage. And so for a good allotted amount of time, Dante and Andrew continued to cut away life and limb from the demons. Claire's eyes had moved away from the carnage to look upon the troubled faces of her parents. They watched the boy they thought they knew as he fought to protect them. Slowly but surely, the demons stopped coming and what they saw around them were the last ones.

Claire wasn't sure she wanted to demons to end anymore. Because the end of them, meant the beginning of a different kind of hell. But honestly, what the heck was she gonna say? What **could** she say? A gentle hand upon her shoulder brought her eyes to Eva who was giving a troubled attempt at a reassuring gesture.

"He had to, Claire. We were fools to think we could keep this a secret considering how bad things were getting…part of you must have thought of that."

Of course she had thought about that. But she thought that was just a normal insecurity. You **knew** it was gonna happen. But that never meant you actually realized what that implied. It was something you never fully worried about until it happened.

"…Eva…what do we do?" she voiced her thoughts. "…I don't feel good…"

She felt like her stomach had flipped; she wanted to puke from the nerves. She was so self-absorbed that she failed to notice all demons had been dealt with, and only the scattered limbs were left as an indexical representation.

Dante let out a long and heavy sigh, dropping his sword where it shot through the ground, dormant once again. His eyes did not immediately go to Claire. Instead, they were subconsciously pulled to her parents, who were still on their knees holding each other as they looked up on him like he had three heads. He couldn't keep eye contact with them very long, they made him feel extremely uneasy. So he finally looked at Claire, whose eyes were to the ground and looking extremely sick. He hurried over to her and knelt beside her, reaching a arm around her to calm her, only to sharply pause before he could.

"Get away from my daughter!"

Claire finally looked up to see her dad had gotten to his feet and was running over to her. She could only watch as he pushed Dante away, rather abruptly, and pulled her to her feet where he brought her back to where he was with her mother.

"Dad…what...?"

Her world made no sense right now and she was acting as if she was just woken up in the middle of the night.

"What the hell is going on?" he then shouted, glaring for the most part at Dante alone.

Slowly focusing her eyes she saw Dante taking small steps back, his arms up in front of him in a way that seemed he was backing away from a caged animal.

"Mr. Summers I can explain," he finally stopped backing away.

The statement got no words immediately from James, as he continued to throw his eyes everywhere. He looked at the demon limbs, then to Dante, then to his daughter, and repeated the cycle as he tried to figure out what was played out before him like a fantasy movie.

"Honestly what the hell is going on?" he repeated in exasperation.

Claire more or less came to and looked up at her dad.

"Dad calm down," she put her hand on he shoulder from behind.

He whirled around to look at her like she was a stranger.

"We can explain," she gripped his shirt. "Please just calm down."

"Calm down!" he shouted. "How do you expect me to do that?"

He then pointed a finger at Dante.

"Who is he?"

After a moment of silence he added, "What is he?"

The words stung Dante a bit but he was only allowed to watch in silence as the nightmare he had been trying to avoid was playing out before him.

"Dad you're not helping," Claire kept trying in vain. "I promise to tell you everything."

Sparda arrived just then, landing beside Andrew and telling him something. Then Andrew said something that must have been about the situation because it was then that Sparda looked on to see what was happening.

"What are you people? Seriously?" James mentioned when he saw Sparda just practically fall from the sky.

The full demon started to head over to his son and join in the situation, hoping that he could calm down James, who he did not yet know was Claire's father.

"Who's this?" he whispered to Dante.

"Claire's dad."

Sparda stared a moment as James met his eyes.

"Dad we all want to tell you what's going on," Claire stepped in front of her father, taking advantage of his silence. "Will you let us please?" she said in an almost desperate tone.

When he stayed silent, she was unsure whether that meant he would listen or if he was still speechless, but she wasn't going to ask. She walked across the way towards Dante.

"Claire don't," her father said quickly.

She paused and cast a look back to him.

"Dad…it's okay. You may not recognize him but he's Devin."

"What?"

The response came from her mother, who walked up and now joined James' side.

"Will you promise to listen?" she faced them fully.

Her voice sounded so pained to their ears that the only thing felt they should do was to hear her out. And by now, all of their friends and family, including Sarah, Madison, and Jordan, had fell silent with intent to listen to what she would say. All wanting to know what exactly it was they just witnessed.

Claire turned from them and headed up to Dante. Her father let out a noise of unease and took a subconscious step forward at seeing his daughter so close to the person who previously had a giant sword, that seemingly came from nowhere, cutting up the most disgusting things he had ever seen in his life.

She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and drew his eyes to hers.

"Ready?" she asked softly.

He looked back at the awaiting audience a moment and then felt her take his hand in both of hers.

"We can do this," she mustered up as much courage in her voice as she could, but Dante could sense her growing fear.

He placed his other hand over their joined ones and gave a solemn nod before they both turned and walked over to her awaiting parents.

**Thank ya! God Bless : )**


	20. True Reality

**Yay faster update. This was challenging! AHH! But I am okay with this overall. Turned out better than I thought. Hope you think so too. Enjoy! And welcome new readers and those who sent anonymous reviews. I can't directly reply to you when you write anonymously, so THANK YOU!**

"Mom…Dad…" Claire let out a long breath. "Promise to just hear us out…okay?" she looked pleadingly into their eyes.

They shared glances to each other but never gave a reply of any sort. Claire was starting to get that their silence was the only thing she would probably get in response for most of her requests. And when she thought about it, silence was much better than them freaking out.

"This is Devin," she said again. "But his real name is actually Dante Redgrave."

They looked at Dante, who was avoiding their eyes. She continued quickly, seeing how the silence was making her boyfriend uncomfortable.

"And Andrew isn't his actual father," she turned around and looked at Sparda. Hearing he was mentioned, he figured he better head over.

"This is Sparda…and he is."

They looked at the demon pair, noting the inhuman features they shared. The white hair, the ice blue eyes, the rather buff physiques. Claire wasn't sure where she was going with this explanation, but part of her felt it would be best for them to get used to the two demons standing in front of them before they…well…found out they were demons.

"You're not…wait what?" Karen looked at Andrew past them and then at Sparda.

"What kind of name is Sparda?" James then asked, looking at the demon king.

If the situation wasn't so terrible, Claire might have laughed at that statement. Of all the info being thrown at them so far, her dad was having trouble with a name.

"Why?"  
Karen was referring to why they didn't know this guy was Dante's father.

"More importantly," James suddenly raised his voice. "…what the heck did we just witness? You burst into flames and become a different person…and then you start cutting up those…those **things**…"

"What **were **those," Karen gave a shudder. "They were horrible…"

"Those were demons."

Sparda's sudden interjection caused everyone to look at him. In their minds, Claire and Dante hoped he would be careful in the territory he was trekking into. The silence lingered after the statement, all uneducated brains repeating the word 'demon' in question of if they had heard that correctly.

"Now I know this all may sound very fantastic to you," he continued. "But you witnessed for yourselves they were very real."

As much as everyone wanted to ask him questions, their voices would not sound.

"They were demons and they were from hell. I can't say it any plainer to you."

The way Sparda was talking was very direct and personal, not a stitch of hesitation.

"You can choose whether or not to believe any of this, but quite frankly…" he paused a moment. "…regardless of whether or not you do it doesn't make them any less real."

Claire did have to give him props for just stating it like he did.

"Demons?" James repeated in a tone that said 'you have to be kidding me'.

"Mr. Summers I wish I was lying," said Sparda.

"…who **are** you?" came James' reply.

At this Sparda let out a long sigh and gave Claire and Dante a look they could not read.

"Well…if you must know…"

Claire and Dante tensed up, now knowing what he was going to say.

"…Sparda…" Claire subconsciously whispered.

"Like I told you, I'm Dante's father…and I'm a demon too."

There was a time for being blunt to get the point across, and there were times where you really needed to beat around the bush. Apparently Sparda felt there was no need for the latter. Now, if they hadn't been there to witness the 'demons' themselves, they would have thought this all to be a part of some video prank. Given that, a part of them was still expecting the joke to be had any minute now, but that part of them was slowly shrinking into nothing.

They saw the person they knew as Devin suddenly burst into flames and become the man that stood in front of them. They saw the demons, and witnessed Dante, Sparda, and Andrew slice and cut them up like pieces of meat.

Her parents then turned to look at their daughter, who looked very distraught. They were looking to her for any clue that this was not real, or perhaps they would wake up any second now. When she solemnly nodded her head and looked away, they received no such luxury.

"…h-how can this be true?" Karen asked. "I mean how can this all possibly be real?"

"I don't expect you to grasp it," Dante looked at her apologetically. "…but it's the truth."

"What is a demon?" she then asked.

Her eyes moved from Sparda to the remaining limbs scattered across the area. It was a question, actually, that Claire had often wondered. Dante never did explain it thoroughly.

"Mrs. Summers," he paused and gave her a hard stare. "I am going to tell you this first because it will hopefully prevent you from making an inevitable judgment otherwise."

Her parents raised their brows to the statement while Claire and Dante gave each other just as confused glances.

"You see, Dear," he continued. "There are good demons and there are bad demons. The things you just witnessed are the bad ones."

He let them soak up the new information. When he took in a long breath and let it out slowly, they all felt the atmosphere change. Sparda eyed his son, who in turn met his gaze and immediately grasped what was next. Claire deciphered the moment and took Dante's hand in hers once again, giving it a reassured squeeze.

"Good demon?" James repeated the oxymoron.

"I feel it would be appropriate for my son to explain this," he finished.

When her parents looked at him he had to note he never felt smaller and more cornered in his life. The only thing bringing him back to what needed to be done, and giving him the courage to stay and not run away, was the person holding on to his hand.

"Mr. and Mrs. Summers," he started, but immediately felt his mouth go dry.

While he paused to regain his composure, Claire also had to admit she wanted to run away. But part of her didn't believe she could because she felt like she was going to faint at any second.

"When he said good demons…he was talking about himself…and me."

He could tell they didn't understand right away, because they only gave him the famous blank stares.

"You see…I'm a…"

Claire felt her whole body physically tense to the point where she could hardly breath. Sparda also tensed a little before the word was released.

"Half demon. Part of me is human, and the other part of me is like those creatures."

Claire wanted to hit him for describing his demonic side as a 'creature' and also for comparing it to those things. She hoped he was going to explain how he was different. He didn't know how he got the guts to, but he took a few steps back and was immediately engulfed in flames that faded to reveal his human appearance, the one they knew as Devin, before going back to demi-form.

The reaction they had was as if they forgot he had done that in the beginning of the fight. Which was understandable considering everything that had happened. Before they could say anything, though it didn't look like they knew how to talk at the moment, he had changed back.

"This can't be real," Karen raised a hand to her mouth, almost falling to her knees. "Oh my gosh…"

To hopefully lessen the blow and distract her parents, Sparda continued.

"The regular demons are what happens to people who were condemned to hell."

Claire gasped at the comment.

"What?" she exclaimed. "Are you telling me those are people?"

"No," he shook his head. "They are the souls of the people. Believe me, those things are far from human."

Her father seemed to not have heard the last statement.

"…why didn't you tell us?" James looked at his daughter, finally able to look away from Dante.

She caught it in his voice right away, the hurt. Even though it was very faint, she felt awful. Her parent's had such a magnitude of trust for her that it was almost inhuman.

"…I…I mean…what would you have done? Would you even have believed me?" she almost couldn't bare making eye contact at the moment.

"That's not the point," her mother said quickly. "This is pretty big, Claire!" she laughed out in her own continued surprise. "To think we never even had a clue—"

"And if I had my way, it would have stayed like that," Sparda interjected. "Because there are some things you are just better off not knowing, Mrs. Summers."

She found she just couldn't disagree verbally with the full demon, even if she wanted to.

"And why is that?" James snapped. "This is our daughter you've involved in all of this! Consider her feelings!"

"You think I don't know what I'm doing?"

All were silenced at Claire's outburst.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Dad," she shook her head. "Sure, I was a little scared at first to have learned that I was dating a demon…and the fact that demons even existed!"

She paused a moment to take in and let out a long breath to calm herself and stop her voice from rising any further. Yelling would not help the situation.

"But if it weren't for Dante and Sparda, I would have been dead a long time ago."

She could tell the statement shocked them to no end and their expressions demanded an explanation but she would not let them have it until she was done.

"And I **know** them. Demon isn't a word that should be used to describe them. They are more human than some people I know."

She looked at Dante.

"And I have never felt so strong an attraction to anyone else on this Earth. Dante genuinely cares for me and I know he would do anything to keep me safe."

She looked back at her parents.

"...**and…**I know my parents are better than to judge. If I can only ask one thing of you…please just trust me. And give them a chance."

They exchanged glances.

"…Claire we can't possibly…allow you to date a _demon_…" her dad started.

The way he said that made her angry but she kept it in.

"…he's a person, Dad," she did all she could to keep the edge out of her voice.

"…you're father has a point though," Karen finally spoke up. "This just doesn't seem right."

At this, Eva finally joined the party.

"Mr. and Mrs. Summers," she gave them a warm smile. "I would like to ask you to define what 'right' is."

When she got her answer, their silence, she continued.

"If you haven't fully pieced it together yet, the reason my son is a half demon is because there was love between myself and a full demon. Now why that may seem 'not right' to this world, it produced the same effect of your marriage. I have a wonderful husband and son."

Eva was a wonderfully intelligent woman. Claire had caught the last part, where she said she had a son, and not bothered to mention Vergil. No, that would be too much for her parents to handle at this point. And her parents had to admit they did not have an objection to her comment, and they could only stare at her as she stood next to her demon husband, who slid a loving arm around her waist.

James ran a hand through is hair and turned to his wife once more.

"We need time," Karen said while shaking her head. "…really need to talk, Claire."

After glancing at Dante she added, "Alone. Just you and us."

Dante felt his stomach fall at her request, and the not so welcoming glances he had been receiving from the two from the moment they found him out. Claire had to admit she wasn't enjoying their vibes much either, but she wasn't expecting them to actually consider talking about it…and that nobody had tried to shoot Dante or Sparda yet. At some point in the game, Andrew had actually wandered over to the crowd of her friends and God knows what he was saying to them.

"Go then," Sparda said with a small nod. "And we will take care of everything here."

"What does that mean?" James asked quickly.

"We've got some explaining to do to your friends…but you guys should leave ahead…don't you agree?"

They had to admit they really just wanted to get home and talk with their daughter, and try and slowly put the pieces together of this apparent dream-turned reality. They nodded and James put a hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Let's go…"

She silently agreed but paused a moment when she turned back to Dante.

"Mom…Dad."

She slowly broke away from them, as they watched her every moment, and headed over to Dante.

"Hi," she whispered.

Her hand reached up and directed his face to meet hers, and his eyes eventually followed.

"It could have been worse…"

She was definitely right about that.

"Hopefully I'll see you soon…just take it easy, okay?" she touched his cheek.

Her touch was so soothing to him, amplified because of yet another day of self-inflicted torture.

"Make sure your dad doesn't do anything that would make me kill him."

Her statement finally got a small laugh from him. His smile got hers to grow; it was nice to see it again.

"I'll try."

She sighed while taking both his hands in hers.

"Regardless of what they will do…say…or think…you better give me a kiss before I leave."

His eyes went slightly wide at the sudden statement.

"Dante," she read his hesitation. "They need to see that we are not kidding around here."

He laughed again and shook his head.

"I can't believe I would ever have a moment where I hesitated upon a request to kiss you…you're parents really know how to mess me up."

Claire merely smiled, and it faded when he bent down and gently kissed her. Her parents made audible sounds of surprise and discomfort, her dad even slipping out her name in protest. When Dante heard that, he pulled away.

"I'll kill you if that's all I get."

He blinked at her.

"You really are trying to get me wound up on a skewer, aren't you?"

She released her hands from his and surprised all with a full kiss to him, one hand to his face, the other on his chest. He wanted to pull away at first, a combination of another sound of discomfort from both parents this time and the shock of it all, but Claire's hand on his face moved to his neck where she firmly kept him in his place. And so with the decision made for him, he finally happily gave in. He reached his arms up her back, dipping down for a deeper kiss and moving his head to match hers at just the right angle.

Sparda and Eva gave each other smiles; glad they would still be themselves in front of their new audience, even if it did take a little push at first. Sparda was silently thanking Claire. She was right to know that this is what they needed to see. They needed to see this love was real, regardless of the blood that ran through one of the party's veins. And they took their sweet time enjoying it too, for good reason. Because they knew all the fun that awaited them when they were done.

**There you have it. Next chapter hopefully up soon. I leave for Vegas on Saturday (and no I am actually not excited about it. I don't party and don't gamble and don't drink…so whoopy.) It's for golf, so we are competing and then I get to go HOME next Wednesday and enjoy the rest of my break. Hopefully updates present themselves. As always I look forward to your reviews! Thanks everyone! God Bless.**


	21. Authority

**This ended up being longer than I thought, and once again I ended up writing away from my initial thoughts. Enjoy and God Bless! You guys are aWeSoMe.**

Sparda had found the opening where the demons were coming from and sealed it before he had made it back to the scene where the chaos of him and his son's true identities were revealed. While Claire and Dante were explaining everything to her parent's, Andrew was explaining all of it to her friends and family members who were looking on. They had given the same reactions as her parents, many questions and looks of complete disbelief. He had explained to the witnesses that it was crucial they did not tell anyone else what happened there, and that it would only be putting Claire in danger.

Her three best friends were on wits end that this was all happening to their friend and they were completely oblivious. They demanded to speak with her, but Andrew said it would be best to do that after she had a chance to talk with her parents one on one and even figure out if the relationship was still going to be okay. This was all he could do, and he hoped it was enough.

Sparda was worried. He could only imagine this was all the doing of his other son, yet he never sensed his presence. And so he, joined by Andrew, had retired to his study in the library to brainstorm any possible ideas or other explanations. Eva was more anxious than she could remember and went to her garden to try and channel the feelings into something productive that would hopefully take her mind away from thinking up horrible conclusions of what Claire's parents were going to say about her and her youngest son.

Dante had followed Claire home in secret. The car ride back was in complete silence between her and her parents, and Dante's stomach was in knots, sharing her pain. The moment they got home, her parents asked her to join them in the living room. Dante hid in one of the larger trees in their backyard, which gave him an angle where he could clearly see Claire, sitting tensely on their sectional.

"We want to hear it straight from you now," her dad ran a hand through his hair and looked upon his only child.

He had remained standing, and her mother had joined her side shortly after she sat down, a hand resting gently on her shoulder.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

That question, again…

"It's the same answer I gave you before…would you really have believed me?"

They looked at each other.

"…you're right, Claire," her mom answered. "We probably wouldn't have…but still…for you to have kept something this unbelievable a secret…you know how much we trust you."

Claire felt the guilt rising again.

"I know, Mom," she put her hand over hers. "…but in this case I chose your safety over trust. It was like Sparda said…you were better off not knowing."

"So you were content keeping us in the dark your whole life?" her dad intervened, casting a look over his shoulder at her.

"…if it would have kept you safe."

It was hard to say anything to that at the moment. Her parents were still a bit flustered and even though all the answers were given to them, that didn't mean it made any more sense than before the debriefing.

Her father nearly scared her off the sectional when he jerked around to look at her with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"…I completely forgot to mention that you have powers too!"

Her mom gasped and turned to her, her hand moving to cover her mouth, "That's right."

Claire bit her lip, astonished that she had actually forgotten she used them in front of her parents. The truth about Dante and his father, along with the existence of demons in general, must have been pretty substantial for them to forget the escapade of their daughter.

"…please…for the love of God…"

The women of the house looked at him.

"…you better not be a half-demon too."

Claire's emotional roller coaster started up again, leaving behind guilt for rising anger.

"What do you mean by that, Dad?" she shot him a glare.

The anger she showed him, something he rarely saw, made him hesitate.

"Y-you know what I mean! And watch your attitude, I'm your father," he narrowed his eyes and turned back to the window.

She sighed with a shake of her head.

"You know what…I **don't** know what you mean. So why don't you straight up tell me what you think about Dante and his father!"

Neither parent moved. She stood.

"Fine…then let me tell you what I think."

Her mom reached up a hand to gently draw her back down but moved away from her reach.

"I have never loved anyone more than him!" she put her hand to her chest. "And I'd be dead if it weren't for Dante!"

"What?" Karen blurted out.

"The night of the meteor shower a demon attacked us and it would have killed me if Dante wasn't there."

A gap of silence took over, while her parent's exchanged glances to each other, communicating things she could not figure.

"And that is by far **not** the only time he has saved me!"

James shook his head and faced his daughter completely.

"I think that if you never met Dante you would never have been in danger."

His words cut her. And in the trees of their backyard, the half-demon felt his blood run cold. But James stood un-phased, like he had said the most simple of words. Claire felt her body trembling, a combination of fear, the hurt of his words, and how stern he was glaring at her, as if she was not his daughter, but a stranger whom he hated without hesitation.

"James…I think…"

Her mother was also taken aback at his choice of words and mannerisms.

"…let's calm down a bit here," she stood up and put a cautious hand on her daughter.

"No…Karen think about this for a moment!" he exclaimed. "Our daughter is dating half a monster! You saw what those things were like…he's half **that**."

Claire couldn't stop her trembling as it continued to grow. Regardless that her father was talking to her mother, he never removed his cold eyes from her.

"I'm done with this. No more beating around the bush, Claire. Did we not raise you right?"

"James!" Karen raised her voice a little.

"Either you come to your senses and realize you two are not seeing each other anymore…"

Claire felt another stab through her heart.

"…or get out of my house."

Her eyes flew wide and she forgot how to breathe. She took a few subconscious steps back. Never before had her father been so full of anger, of this unending hatred. Never had she been looked upon with such ire. It took all Dante had to refrain from running in and either punching her father, or getting Claire out of there. He was gripping the trunk of the tree so hard it started to split, his fingers digging into its base.

"I think it's time to calm down," Karen said with anger towards her husband's actions and words.

He ignored her and walked up to his daughter.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"You don't mean that," her mom said.

But in an instant Claire pushed him away, nearly knocking him over, before running down the stairs out the door.

"Claire!" Karen shouted and ran after her.

Dante sensed her distress and hopped a few trees to see she was outside and running. Her mother reached the door just in time to see her disappear down the gravel road, running at a speed that she thought impossible. She stared a few moments at where her daughter left her sight before the anger kicked in and she whirled around to face James.

"What is wrong with you!" she had to keep from grabbing him by the neck collar. "Go get her!"

He narrowed his eyes and started walking to their room.

"She'll be fine."

Meanwhile, Claire ran at full speed, not caring where she was going. She wanted to go anywhere but home. She didn't know that her boyfriend was having a hard time keeping up with her. She was faster because of her powers, but her emotions seemed to be taking her powers to new heights momentarily. Her vision blurred as she constantly rubbed at her eyes but the tears would not stop.

She reached the end of the gravel roads and ran into one of the forested areas surrounding the country fields. The beauty of living in the country was that you could easily get away from people if you had to.

Running with half her vision and emotions subduing her ability to think clearly, she stumbled through the thickets. It was countless how many times she almost fell before she finally tripped. She fell hard, landing almost on her face if not for her hands instinctively taking most of the fall. She scraped her arms when they fell beneath her. Instead of getting up right away, or checking the damage and cuts she started feeling, she laid there and continued to cry.

Claire was content to stay like that, the physical pain was nothing compared to the sudden hatred her father had displayed. Had he always been like that? Sure he was strict when it came to Dante, but was he keeping his true emotions bottled up for her sake? She never knew he could be so explosive.

A hand on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. On impulse, she whirled around and smacked the hand away.

"Leave me alone!"

Her eyes fell upon the sad and worried eyes of Dante. He gasped at her sudden attack. She had acted out of spite, thinking it was her mother who had chased her the moment she ran. She was so thankful to see him there, but her body would not move.

His heart went out to her more. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her face and clothes were smudged with cuts and dirt from her stumbling escape. She looked so destroyed and she had right to be. He knew everything that was said; no sane person wouldn't feel pathetic if they were her.

Their staring competition was cut when Claire quickly got up and crawled to him. She threw her arms around his torso and hugged herself flush to him like a life preserve, as if she was drowning.

"I'm so sorry, Claire…I heard everything."

Her sobs came in gasps of breath, but barely any noise escaped her. She had spent her last vocals running at full speed. She was drained and unable to say what she wanted to him, but he knew exactly what she would say if she could.

"I know, I know. Just breathe, Babygirl. I've got you."

Her hands reached up his back and she clutched at the fabric of his shirt.

"I…I just don't…unders—why!" she gasped.

"Shhh…I know," he started to rub her back to soothe her. "Don't try to talk."

"I…wanna go…with you…"

He looked down at her in confusion.

"What's that?"

"Take me…to…your h-house."

He paused, the hand rubbing her back stopped.

"Claire…right now that wouldn't be such a smart idea."

"I DON'T CARE!"

He jumped at her sharp scream.

"I can't…go back right now."

Her breathing was starting to calm down and so was her trembling.

"I can't…"

He sighed and nuzzled his head against hers.

"Okay. I understand. Here."

He put his hands under her arms and lifted her slowly before wrapping an arm around her back and knees and lifting her. She immediately resumed burying her face into his chest, like a scared child refusing to be pried from their mother. With caution in his movements, he slowly made the trek from tree to ground to tree until he landed gently on his yard.

By now, Claire's cuts were gone, and only the dirt smudges and puffy eyes were left to tell the ordeal she had been through. Surprisingly, she wasn't tired like usual after things like this, or she used her powers in overdrive. But Dante knew that rest was the only thing she should be doing.

"You need to rest. I'm taking you to my room."

She had resisted the first couple of times, but no sound came from her that time. The moment he was inside, his parents were standing before him, side by side, and both wearing expressions of worry. Sparda must have sensed Claire's distress for a while now, he could imagine, and he must have filled Eva in.

Dante quickly walked past them with a quick, "Hold on."

The couple exchanged glances of growing worry and followed their son up the stairs. He had shut the door behind him, sensing his curious parents in his pursuit. Claire wasn't in his room often, but it was one of her favorite places.

The room was pretty spacious, as was the entire house. Once again, if there were stereotypes for demons, he broke them. The walls were a darker blue, almost navy, in color. The bed was placed in the middle of the right wall. It was a king size bed, with a comforter in the similar color of the walls. The pillows were granite gray, and there were quite a few of them propped up against the wooden headboard. He had two small bedside tables, one on either side. On the right side he had a small lamp and a few books, on the other an empty glass and his cell phone.

The phone was something he hardly took with him or used. He had friends, like she did, but he never liked technology, like his father, she had come to learn. Glancing at the phone as he laid her onto the bed, she wondered what their friends were thinking right now. They left in a hurry, and Andrew had kept all of them at bay from rushing them with questions, had they any. She settled into the soft and lush blankets, but he then lifted her up a moment to pull them back before tucking her in.

"You amuse me," she mumbled before turning to her side and burying her face into the soft pillows.

"Why's that?" he asked, almost in a whisper, as he sat next to her, draping an arm over her on her other side.

"Because you're room is so clean…it's always been clean…and you make your bed."

He chuckled softly. Even in her worst of times, she still amused him. And it was true. He had a habit of keeping things tidy. All the clothes were placed in the hamper beside the door when you walked in. Across his bed was his dresser, and a small assortment of books on top, much like his father's favorites on top of the fireplace. Claire knew they were sorted alphabetically. To the left of the dresser was a door to his private bathroom. To the right of the dresser was a large and comfy white beanbag chair, her favorite. On the far wall when you walked in was a large window and walkout balcony, similar to hers. The white drapes were pulled back today, exposing the seemingly endless view of the country hills. Tucked against the corner of the balcony and right side of his room was his desk. It was simple, a flat-top table with a stationary sorter on the left, a lamp on the right and his laptop in the middle. Like the phone, it practically went unused. The swivel chair to accompany the desk was white. He liked to match a color theme.

She buried her face deeper into the pillows. Only after a brief moment of stillness did he realize she was crying again. Her small frame shook gently from time to time and he could hear her breathing catch. He breathed a sigh through his nose and bent down over her. He pressed his weight to hers only softly, and dug his hand under the covers to find hers. Nudging his head to hers he whispered, "Please don't cry…it's gonna be okay, Claire. We'll get through this."

He felt her nod in response. A knock on the door drew him off her.

"Is it okay if I tell them what's happened?"

Another silent nod. He opened the door to see they had the same faces as when he walked in the front door. He stepped forward and pushed them back before shutting the door. They really wanted to go in and see Claire but he knew she would rather be alone for a while.

"Her dad," he started, shaking his head.

Sparda's face fell further than it already was. Eva knew that he was strict about Claire dating her son, but she didn't quite understand and silently asked him to continue.

"He just…I don't know…he snapped," he ran a hand through his white strands and leaned back against the door.

"What exactly did he say?" Sparda asked.

"He told her that if she either break up with me or get out of his house."

Eva brought a surprised hand up to her mouth and looked at her husband.

"Was he serious?" Sparda's eyes conveyed the desire to know and also to not want to.

"I think so," he responded quietly.

They watched their son suddenly clench his fist and lean his head back into the door where it hit a little hard.

"How did you get her out of there?" Eva looked at him.

"She ran out and I followed her. She was pretty torn up about the whole thing and didn't want to go back. I wasn't about to argue with her on that," he said like it was the obvious thing to do.

"Do they know she's here?" she asked.

He shook his head and she bit her lower lip, once again looking to her husband for a reaction of any kind.

"I don't think that is a good idea—"

"Well I wasn't gonna throw her—" Dante interrupted his father.

"**BUT**," he cut him off, "…given what I've heard you are probably right."

Dante glared at his father a moment longer before sighing and walking away from the wall, his head in his hands. His parents parted to let him through, and watched him closely.

"What are we gonna do about her dad?" he turned and looked to them.

"I don't know, Son," he placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder.

Dante folded his arms and looked at his dad after the gesture.

"…let's just let her rest right now. I'll think about it…but you should be with her right now. I'm sure she wants that."

He looked down with another silent nod before ducking back into the room and quietly shutting the door.

Turning to his wife, Sparda saw her hand was back over her mouth in shock and concern. He took her hand with a half-hearted smile.

"How much can they take, Sparda? They're still just kids…and to have this much—"

"I know," he said quickly. "…I know."

When Dante resumed his place by her side, he saw she had turned towards the window and was staring, seeing things he would never see.

"Hi," he whispered, afraid to shake her from her reverie.

He was a bit worried that she didn't move at all, and said nothing, when he sat on the bed. He was okay to just let her have her silence. He wasn't going to ask her any questions, make her do anything. He was just going to let her be.

A knock on the door caused a little irritation to Dante.

"They said they were gonna leave us alone," he seethed quietly to himself.

He opened the door, only to swallow his own tongue. Claire thought it was odd that she wasn't hearing anything the moment the door opened. Turning to see who had knocked, she gasped.

"Mom?"

**Hopefully this is the end of the fillers for a bit. And hope the story continues to be to your liking : ) Thanks guys!**


	22. Responsible

**Whew! FINALLY summer is here. Got everything packed up, moved back home, everything unpacked, summer job in full swing, my life sucks, you know the usual. I understand if you hate me for the horrendous delay because I am upset with myself for making you wait so long. It's a longer chapter and I was able to put a lot of stuff in I wanted to and made it work. This chapter really sets the ball in motion. I'm very excited. Enjoy!**

She wasn't dreaming, she hadn't finally gone crazy, or snapped from it all. Her mother **really** was standing in the doorway, her eyes fixed upon her. Both of them hesitated when Karen started walking towards the bed. Unlike last time, Dante didn't feel like letting another episode happen without his presence. He quickly walked in between the two women, putting his hands up to Karen.

"Mrs. Summers…she doesn't need anymore yelling…she needs—"

A gentle hand to his face stopped him immediately. His eyes locked onto Karen's face, which was relaying to him a gentle smile. It was so moving, so soft, he simply dropped his hands and watched as she moved past him to immediately embrace her daughter. Claire gave a small jump in shock at the notion.

"M-mom…?"

"Oh Claire…I'm so sorry," she let out a long sigh.

Claire could only stare past her mother's shoulder in blank surprise.

"He should never have treated you like that…"

Dante saw the tears pour over Claire's eyes before she buried her face into her mother's shoulder and shook with silent sobs. Her arms reached up and embraced her mom back. He gave his first real smile after all that had gone on that day and decided the two needed a moment to themselves.

He looked at them a moment longer before turning. His hand touched the knob but that was as far as he got before, "Hold on a second."

He paused like a scared deer and turned to see Karen had turned, still holding Claire, to look at him.

"I would like to talk to you…Dante was it?" she looked at Claire and got a nod. "Dante…"

She released her daughter, who settled back into the abundance of covers and pillows, and walked over to the half-demon. She brought her hands up and placed them on both sides of his head and just looked at him. Claire watched in silent curiosity, while Dante felt like he was being examined.

"Half-demon," she said. "Huh."

Dante had completely froze at this point, eyes pinned to the mother of his girlfriend, as she scanned his features.

"Uh…Mrs. Summers?"

His voice brought her eyes and attention back to his face. She let out a thoughtful hum and dropped her hands.

"I want to hear everything from **you**, Dante. I wanna know what's going on."

Claire and Dante locked eyes for a moment.

"…and you're gonna explain to me what this whole demon thing is, okay?" she smiled, maybe too sweetly.

Dante blinked at her. She was a complete 360 from James. She continued to stare at him, her smile unwavering, while she waited for an answer.

"Y-yeah," he nodded quickly. "Yeah I can do that."

She nodded once, "Good."

She looked away in a moment of personal thought, "I need to talk to Eva first…"

Karen trailed off, her expression distant a moment, before turning to leave the room.

"…and meet her **real** husband…ha…demons…" they heard her saying from the hallway.

Her whole persona at the moment would have been laughable by strangers, but Claire and Dante were a bit worried. Maybe she had gone crazy. Claire would understand, there had been a few times where she was looking at that possibility for herself.

"Okay…" Dante turned to his girlfriend. "Your parents…are so…just too much for me sometimes," he finished while shaking his head.

Claire, despite the situation, started to laugh. She leaned over and continued to laugh as he buried her face into the pillow. Dante forgot about Karen a moment and walked over and sat beside her. He had to admit it was great to hear her laughter, to see her smile.

"Hey," he put a hand on her shoulder, his smile widening. "We gotta go talk to your mom."

Her head turned and her eyes peered up at him, her smile hidden but her eyes reflected her silent laughter.

"You do…I don't!" she grabbed the covers and burrowed under.

"Oh no, young lady!" he started to pull at the covers. "You're gonna come with me!"

It took no effort to expose her. She laid there, finishing her laughs, before looking up at him with a smile. He slowly crawled until he was over her, his knees on either side of her body while he supported himself on his shoulders. Their faces close.

"I like your mom."

She reached up and rubbed his nose with her thumb, "Me too. But Dante…I also love my dad."

He playfully rolled his eyes at her.

"Honor your mother and father, Dante," she raised a brow at him.

"I know, I know," he put his forehead to hers a moment.

When he moved back to look at her she slowly held his face and searched his eyes.

"It's been so long since we've had a moment like this…again," she added with annoyance.

"I have a feeling we will be saying that a lot."

"…I don't even wanna think about it."

Instead of replying, he bent down and kissed her. Her hands moved like water from his face to his shoulders. He lowered and pressed his body to hers and she let out a content hum to the contact. They broke for a moment of air before continuing. She reached a hand to the back of his neck and played with his platinum strands while he reached his own hand to her neck, raising her up. The movement deepened the kiss and caused Claire to gasp, caught off guard. His mouth formed a smile. Letting the moment take him a bit, he lowered his hand to her hip where he slowly trailed it up. It eventually moved under her shirt to rest on her skin. She gasped, eyes widening almost instantly. She pulled back and glared at him.

"Hand!" she said with anger.

He stared at her a moment before laughing.

"You let me get further than that last time."

She continued to glare at him, but the blush overtook her face regardless.

"We weren't thinking clearly last time!"

"Then let's continue," he flashed his egotistical smile. "That way I can get you in a state where you're not thinking."

Her mouth hung at his words.

"Did you really just say that?" she propped up on her elbows, causing him to move back a little.

"Oh come on, Babygirl. You know you want me."

Her hand shot up to smack him but he caught it without effort.

"You are digging yourself a grave, Dante," her voice was low.

"Will you join me in it?"

She tried to yank her hand free but failed. So, she shot her other hand up. He caught it just as easily, pinning her wrists to the bed. In the process he moved off her a little to avoid pushing too much of his weight on her.

"I might kill you," she warned.

Taking advantage of having her arms pinned, he lowered his face to hers.

"You sure you don't want me?"

They locked eyes in a moment of silence before she shot her head up quickly, too fast for him to react, and gave him a nice head-butt. It merely got him to blink a few times in amusement, and backfired on her. She winced in pain, instinctively trying to move her hand to her head, only to find it still pinned.

"You're a jerk," she looked at him with one eye closed as the pain started to dull.

"I did nothing," he grinned.

Releasing one of her wrists he brought his hand up to her forehead where he slowly ran it down to her cheek before bending down and kissing her temple.

"You are something else," he gave a gentle smile.

With her free hand she gave him a light smack to his cheek.

"Idiot."

"How's the head?"

"You're the bigger pain."

Claire surprised him when she smile, despite the low tone. In a second she grabbed his face and lowered him to her in a slightly aggressive kiss that flew his eyes open.

"Stupid half-demon," she broke, keeping her hands on his face.

He laughed some more. In an instant he had hopped off the bed, pulling her up with him. They were now standing, with her tucked safely into his embrace as he took in her scent.

"Let's go talk to your mom."

She sighed, remembering the situation at hand, but thankful for the small distraction.

"Let's," she reached for his hand, breaking the hug.

They left, searching the living room, kitchen, and sunroom before seeing they were on the deck in the back yard. When they slide the deck door open, the three adults looked at them.

"Come join the party," Sparda motioned them over with his hand.

They were seated on the patio chairs by the glass-topped table. Eva had made each of them a special drink while Sparda did his best to answer Karen's endless questions. Claire and Dante pulled up some chairs from the other table and they moved over to accompany them.

"Well I planned to hear most of it from you," Karen looked at Dante, "But your father…your **real** father," she interrupted herself. "has been helping me try to grasp this stuff."

"Mom…"

Everyone looked to Claire.

"Thank you," she smiled.

Her mom reached across the table and put her hand on hers.

"But I'm failing horribly trying to get this."

They shared a laugh.

"I think the fact that you are able to try is more than I could have hoped for Mrs. Summers," Sparda took her hand.

Karen blushed as he bent down and placed a light kiss to it. Claire's eyebrow twitched a bit at the gesture but quickly hid her expression when Dante glanced at her, perhaps to see how she would react to it.

"What have you told her?" Claire asked.

"They explained about demons. Talked a little about the powers and stuff they can do that humans can't."

She was silent a moment and looked at her daughter.

"Then we talked a little about Vergil."

Dante blinked in surprise.

"You told her."

Sparda met his eyes and nodded.

"She was honest and humane about this, Son. So she deserves to know everything we can tell her."

"I'm…really sorry to hear about him," she said, casting her eyes down. "I can't imagine how hard that must be on you."

Dante watched her intently, seeing where Claire had inherited much of her caring and thoughtful nature. Meanwhile, Claire bit her lip in silent debate. She had yet to really say anything about how Vergil had acted the last time she interacted with him. Honestly his words continued to linger in her mind, doubled with his bizarre actions.

"But I feel there is still good in him," she said quietly.

She was timid in her words and actions. She remembered how Dante and Sparda had reacted to her trying to explain this when it happened. She didn't want a repeat. Mostly, she believed Dante felt a bit rejected by her when she tried to explain that she felt Vergil could be a good person. He might feel that she is choosing him over her, and that she didn't appreciate how Dante was risking a lot to protect her from him and keep her safe. She was very grateful for all of that, she just wished he wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly.

"Claire, I have no doubt there is good in him, or that he can be a good person," Sparda started. "But we can't make him, he has to make that decision. And I don't think he will be changing his mind any time soon."

"Something happened last time…it's hard to explain," she started. "When I had him pinned to the ground his whole persona just…I don't know, it just changed," she shrugged. "He seemed completely different. I felt totally safe being near him. He almost seemed like he was asking me for help."

Once again, Vergil's "Claire…please" echoed through her mind while she replayed the vision of him reaching up to her with a shaky hand.

"But before I could ask him anything you had taken me away, thinking he was going to hurt me," she looked at Sparda.

She tried to say that last statement with as little accusation or frustration as possible, albeit she was still bothered by what he had done. If only she would have been able to ask Vergil one simple question she might have been able to figure why he suddenly changed like he had. Sparda exchanged a glance with his son that she couldn't figure.

"Maybe we should change the topic," Karen said slowly, sensing the sudden heavy tension.

Claire wanted to shout in protest. Once again the topic of what she had experienced was going to get avoided. But she had glanced at Eva to see she seemed troubled by Claire's mention of her son's behavior. So for her sake she would stop. But sooner or later, she wanted to know their thoughts on what happened. So with great unsettlement, she let the topic change.

"Claire…"

Her mom's hand found itself on hers across the table once more.

"We talked about **your** powers too."

Claire watched her mom for any reactions before making a round to look at everyone else. She took her mom's hand and led her up and away from the table, drawing now-curious looks. She took her out to the middle of the yard before stopping and breaking their hand-lock to put both her hands on her mother's shoulders.

"Okay. I'll show you if you promise no freaking out."

Her mom let out a sigh, narrowing her brows in thought, and nodded.

"I think I've done all my freaking out. I've already seen you use these when you saved us earlier, remember?"

Claire nodded before taking a few steps back. Closing her eyes, she brought her hands up and held them above her at chest level. She opened them so that the palms were facing each other.

"Don't blink," she flashed a smile before closing her eyes.

Karen grew a small smile but in an instant, it was replaced with amazement. There was a bright flash. In the middle of Claire's open hands, an orb of golden light appeared. Around her body, the light suddenly appeared and swirled with intensity moving her hair and clothes about her.

Dante put his elbow on the table and laid his head on his propped up hand, just smiling at his girlfriend. Something he had yet to tell her was how beautiful she looked to him when she was basked in the golden light of her powers.

"Pretty."

The atmosphere suddenly snapped like a taught string. Claire gasped, her light and magic immediately stopping. Her mother's eyes had fallen on the owner of the voice, and looking past her she saw that the others had as well. She turned on her heels to see him. To **finally** see the cause of so much worry, thoughts, and confusion…she could only stare.

A gust of wind came and the Claire found herself in the arms of her boyfriend. He turned so she was then behind him, his arm held out protectively in front of her. But Claire did not want to be protected right now. Without much thought of how Dante would react, she pushed past him. He caught the small smile on her face in her passing.

"Vergil!"

Everyone, including Vergil, looked at her perplexed for her unusual reaction. Vergil drew his sword too quickly for her to react, nor Dante, and thrust it through the air. She didn't see the wave of energy, but she sure felt the cut. A spray of blood shot up from her left arm. It was a long cut that ran from her shoulder to between her elbow and wrist. Her eyes were wide, but not from the cut, more at the shattered expectations she had upon seeing Vergil again. She fell to her knees, uncut arm reaching to the wound.

"You bastard!" Dante was by her side, sword coming into his hand from the earth.

A shaky and unbelieving hand rose from Karen's side to cover her mouth in shock. Dante leaped at his brother, only to immediately stop dead after Claire's outburst of his name.

"Vergil," she said in a shaky voice.

Her mother, as well as Sparda and Eva, had taken Dante's place by her side when he moved to clash with is brother. Karen tried her best to keep her daughter down, but she refused and pushed past her to get on her feet. She was unsteady at first but managed to fully stand up.

"Last time…you said 'please'."

She started walking towards the half-demon. It was Vergil who was the most watched, though. His eyes were wide, and it seemed the closer she got to him, the more a sort of fear started to appear on his face and in his mannerisms. If there was any doubt it was fear, he cleared that up when he brought his sword up, "Stay back!"

Dante and Sparda looked the most shocked that Vergil would be afraid of something, and of all things Claire.

"What is it?"

She shouted and started for him, running full speed doubled with her powers. She reached him before his sword could deliver the down stroke of another attack. Her arms flung around him, not unlike before, and took him to the ground. His hand hit the ground hard, where his sword flew out of it but didn't land far. She had pinned him by his shoulders, but his hands were still free. He reached up and grasped her behind her back. Instead of inflicting pain on her, he was trying to push her off, his face looked panic-stricken.

"What's wrong Vergil?" she was starting to worry.

He was acting as if just being near her was not conducive to his health or well-being. He moved his hand to her stomach and emitted a concentration of energy that abruptly thrust her off him. She shot through the air only to be caught by Dante who jumped up to get her. The moment they landed, she was quickly discarded out of his arms to focus her eyes on the brothers as they clashed swords not even a foot from her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dante managed to push him back a little.

Vergil's eyes went back and forth from his brother to Claire.

In anger at the unknown sudden hatred and fear of his girlfriend to his brother, he gathered energy to push him back further. Sparda had moved in front of Claire and managed to move her back closer to the house in her dazed state of staring at Vergil with confusion. And she continued to stare at the demons went back to swordplay while her mother and Eva looked over her new wound. It was a shock to Karen to find the wound was already scabbed over and starting to shrink.

"Her cut is—"

"I'll explain later," Eva said quickly. "Come on. We need to get back to the house. They can take care of themselves.  
She was referring to Sparda and Dante, who by now had completely disappeared from sight. Claire got up immediately to follow them. Her mother and Eva stumbled forth to try and catch her but she was long gone. She refused to let them fight. Something was wrong with Vergil and she wanted to know now. She wasn't going to wait for Vergil to show up again.

Breaking through the forest connected to the backyard, she came upon them fighting in the surrounding meadow. It was two on one. She shook her head in anger of what it always came to with them. She understood they were only protecting her, she just wished it didn't have to be like this.

"STOP!" she shouted. "STOP FIGHTING!"

They landed, separated by the force of the last clash, and looked to her.

"Claire go back to the house!" Dante said forcefully, but not angrily.

Vergil, like last time, was suddenly uneasy with Claire's presence. Sparda noticed.

"Vergil…does Claire frighten you?" he said with a raised brow.

His son looked taken aback that he would even ask that question and pointed his sword.

"Hold your tongue," he spoke in a low voice.

Claire had enough of being on the sidelines.

"Something is wrong, Vergil!" she shot towards him. "You can tell me!"

He looked as though he gave a jump at her running to him. He was engulfed in a dark red aura and gave a quick horizontal swipe of his sword. A wave of fire and earth shot up towards them. She saw and felt Dante jump in front of her and take her into his embrace before turning his back to the attack to shield her. Eventually, the attack died down and the wind removed the dust.

Claire looked past Dante's shoulder to see Vergil was gone. Her eyes fell; she let another moment slip. But there was something about this time that would have her even more confused. Suddenly, Vergil seemed to be afraid of her, and wanting to do anything to keep her away from him. Dante moved and brought her back to the moment. She tried to get up but his hold on her increased.

"Dante?"

She moved again, this time to try and look at him, but once again his embraced got stronger. He breathed out a sigh that rustled a little past her ear and she shivered a little.

"Claire…"

He pulled back and swiftly gave her the gentlest of kisses to her forehead.

"We need to talk."

**Hope you liked it! R&R. God Bless!**

**Philippians 4:13 – "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."**


	23. A New Enemy

**Finally a quicker update on my part! And it's actually quite longer than usual. Woot. I'm glad to have this chapter out to answer/raise more questions of this story. It's a great installment. Expect more of a filler chapter for the next, maybe. **

**And by the way, I LOVE YOU GUYS. You're reviews and comments really keep my spark for writing this flowing and you're all so nice and constructive for my writing, thank you!**

**And I have been getting a lot of notices for this so let me say: YES. DANTE IS OOC. I tried to make this story my own as much as possible and thus he is out of character. To some he is a ton OOC and to others not as much. Don't turn that into a flame please. That's lameeee. Enjoy and God Bless!**

"Mom, I am **fine**."

Claire slowly withdrew her arm from Karen's unceasing inspection as they sat in the backyard.

"I **know** I saw you get cut," she started. "So where the heck is it?"

She let out a heavy sigh.

"Well I'm not sure exactly how it works, but ever since I got my powers I also got quick healing powers. Believe me, this isn't the first," she pointed to her arm, "…and it isn't the worst."

She immediately regretted that, given the look her mom flashed her.

"What does that mean, Claire?" she shook her head.

"Mom not right now…I promise I'll bring you up to date later…"

She removed her eyes from her mom's to look over at Dante. She wanted to know exactly what he meant when he said they needed to talk. But instead he went over to talk with Sparda and they had been at it for at least 10 minutes. And out of nowhere Andrew had suddenly appeared and joined in the conversation, which had her wondering where he had gone. She didn't realize until he showed up now that she hadn't seen him since they left the lake.

Claire didn't mind them having their little pow-wow. What she **did** mind was that every so often, Dante would glance at her for a moment with an expression she could not read. Knowing she could see him looking didn't change it at all and he went back to talking like it was nothing. She felt that if she was the topic of conversation, she would love to know what it was about.

"What are they talking about you think?" her mom voiced her thoughts.

"No idea," she said with irritation. "God knows."

Karen sensed her daughters edge.

"But I don't like secrets," she finished.

They both gave a jump when Dante suddenly grabbed his father by his shirt collar.

"That's not funny old man," he seethed in a low tone.

Sparda gave an unfazed laugh and pried his son's hands off.

"Take a joke, Son."

"That was a sh***y joke," he folded his arms and looked away.

"We know she doesn't," Andrew interjected. "But more importantly…"

Dante shot him a look as well but dropped the topic. Back on the sidelines, Karen and Claire were now talking about Vergil.

"I guess you guys weren't kidding when you said it was serious," her mom started.

Claire looked down a moment and played with the grass subconsciously.

"Yeah…it's something that's been bugging me since I learned about it."

She told her mom how Vergil had acted the last time and why it was odd with his behavior she just witnessed.

"I have no idea what to think of it," she finished.

"He seemed…almost scared of you. Don't you think?" Karen looked at her.

She shrugged and shook her head before putting her elbows to her knees and leaning her head on her hands.

"I wish I knew what the heck they were talking about."

Karen laughed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Patience, right? Anyway, I just remembered your father. He's probably wondering where we are by now."

At the mention of that Claire let out a loud groan.

"So much crap to deal with!" she shook her head. "Make it stop, make it stop…"

Karen's smile softened.

"He's worried I'm sure."

"I would **hope** so," she added.

"I should call him," she stood up. "Be right back."

She walked to the start of the surrounding forests, opposite the direction of the house. Claire looked up at her to see she remained in sight, but out of earshot. She turned back to the demon trio with growing frustration.

Eva had gone into the house a while back as well and had yet to return. With everyone doing something and her being left to just sit there, she felt a little rejected and useless. But personally, she had enough to do with just thinking and trying to figure out what was going on with Vergil. She glanced once again at the demons, then to her mom. She shifted her position so that she was now sitting cross-legged. She rested her hands in her lap and bowed her head before closing her eyes.

"Mine as well meditate…what else am I gonna do?" she mumbled.

And so she slowly slipped into an undistracted state and brought up her energy and with it a slight outline of light on her person. Her mom watched from a distance with intense curiosity while still chatting with her dad. She could see her daughter looked to be fine so she wasn't worried upon seeing the light again. The Dante, Sparda, and Andrew cast glances her way when they felt her energy go up. Sparda and Andrew looked away first, but Dante watched her a while. He had a lot he wanted and needed to discuss with her and he was getting annoyed with his current dialogue. It was becoming longer than his attention span could handle.

…. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….

"Is she still alive?"

From his crouched position on the floor he bowed his head.

"She is, my lord."

The man stood up from his chair across the way.

"Her powers are getting stronger. She has become more than a small threat…how annoying."

He moved across the dark room to the window.

"I can feel her energy now."

He finally raised his head.

"I can't feel it."

The man laughed.

"You have much to learn. You're powers are still weak, I'm afraid."

The young man bowed his head again.

"How foolish she is…she appears to be meditating."

He grew a wicked grin.

"I think I'll take a peak into her mind."

The young man got up quickly.

"My lord, please don't waste your time with—"

The man turned and held up a glowing red hand, cutting off his approach and dropping him to his knees.

"You have failed me many times now, Vergil…and you plan to object to me?"

He felt a pressure pushing him to the ground, making it hard to breath, move and even talk.

"F-forgive me, my lord. I-it won't happen a-again."

He dropped his hand, and the pressure was gone.

"Now…" he turned. "…let's see how strong you really are."

…. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….

The world 'faded' around her as she finally reached her level of deep focus. What she tried to accomplish at this point each time in meditation was her ability to visualize a physical embodiment of her powers. She tried to imagine a black background and then an sphere of her energy. From there she tried to control it's size, amount and how it moved about in her mind. It was something she learned to do with Sparda.

But unlike each time, Claire was starting to feel uneasy. Then the image of her energy started to distort like a bad connection on satellite TV. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she tried to increase her focus, thinking the problem was with her.

Her energy suddenly disappeared from her visual field. She was shocked that in it's place was…her. She felt like she was there. Testing it out she moved her hands and arms and they moved. Unbeknownst to her they did not move in real life. The uneasy feeling she had was still growing. She finally became scared when she tried to open her eyes but couldn't.

"At last, we meet."

She gasped at the sudden voice and whirled. He looked like a priest with a white robes with a red garment over top his shoulders that fell down to his knees. On his head he wore a cylinder shaped hat with parts that fell down to his chest. He was an older man, looking more towards 70s, she guessed.

"Who are you?" she took a step back. "What is this?"

He caught the twinge of fear in her voice and smiled.

"You have become a problem."

She watched him as he began walking, to no place in particular, as he spoke.

"Not a demon, not a human. So…**what** are **you**?" he stopped and stared at her.

"Why can't I wake up?"

He gave a rather dark laugh.

"Because I won't let you…it's that simple."

When his body came alive with that all-too-familiar dark red aura, she knew she was in the presence of someone that once again wanted to harm her. She brought up her hands and sent a current of her own energy his way. When he merely smacked it aside like an annoying fly, she gasped.

He was gone from her sight the moment she had gasped. She felt the gust of air before she had appeared before her, hand firmly to her neck. It was his turn to play the fool when his contact on her skin suddenly shot him back, his hand singed and smoking.

"A demon?" she asked incredulously. "You look human…"

He held his hand as the pain subsided before glaring at her.

"I see…if I can't touch you, I'll kill you from a distance."

Before she could figure what he meant, his hand shot at her and her whole body became encased in what looked like red lightening. The interesting thing about humans is that even though you haven't experienced something, sometimes you didn't need to in order to understand it. Claire had never been struck by lightening. But she just **knew** that was what this was. She didn't even need to see the streaks of electricity to know at this point. Her body instinctively addressed the fetal position in her mind.

Outside her mind, her body had fallen into the same position and the currents were visible. Dante's head snapped into her direction first, even though they all felt the drastic change of energy. He was beside her in a split second, making Andrew and Sparda look like they were moving in slow motion even with them making the trek at full speed.

"Claire…Claire!" he reached down to touch her, only to have his hands shot away with a painful spark of energy. "What the hell is going on?"

Sparda knelt beside her and reached his own hand to her only to experience his son's pain. He retracted his hand immediately, "This is the work of a demon…a strong one too," his eyes narrowed.

Dante and Andrew threw their glances all around to see if they could spot any sign of the person responsible.

"No guys…this person is acting in spirit."

"All right, Dad!" he shouted. "We get it, you're a fricken genius. Now tell me how to help her!"

"You really should learn more patience," his dad said with a little irritation.

"Claire's in pain!" he grabbed his shirt collar. "…not a good time to be pissing me off!"

He pried his hand off.

"Not a good time to be fighting," he said sternly.

With reluctance and having to swallow his ego and pride a moment, he looked back at Claire with growing worry.

"We need to get through to her mind," Sparda started. "We gotta break through is energy."

Claire suddenly let out a cry of pain as the currents intensified around her. Instinctively, Dante reached for her and called her name, only to withdraw his hands again when they touched the energy.

"Damnit!" he shook his hand out. "How do we help her?" he searched his father's face for answers with growing impatience.

Back in her mind, Claire continued to struggle against the growing shocks and stabs of pain that covered her whole body. The man waved his hand down and the shocks suddenly stopped, both in and outside her mind. She was breathing heavily, catching in as much air as she could. When that much pain is coursing through you, you completely forget to breathe.

"Now then."

He was beside her before she knew it, and he placed his hand over her head. He had learned he couldn't touch her, but this would do.

"Let's see what you think about."

The red aura engulfed his hand only this time and then spread out to what looked like a bubble that encased Claire's head. If the pain was bad enough from her previous engagement, she was now feeling as if people were nailing things into her head. In both worlds, Claire's hands shot to her head and she continued to scream. His brows furrowed as the images of her mind began to flash in front of him like a public slideshow. He saw Dante come up many times. Sometimes he was with her, sometimes he wasn't.

"Love?" he said with venom. "You show love to a monster?"

Somehow, her emotions overpowered his energy a moment, and she broke free enough to shout, "He's not a monster!"

By now, everything she was doing in her mind was reflected in reality. The demons had heard her shout and looked at each other in confusion. Her mother had been on the phone still, trying to calm her father down when he learned where she was, along with Claire. She had to abruptly cut him off when she saw that everyone had gathered around her daughter and they seemed to be panicked. She became just as scared when she got close enough to see her daughter screaming in pain and holding her head. Luckily, Eva had also come out of the house and was able to comfort and restrain her while the guys tried to figure out how to help her.

Claire's shout pushed him back a little as well and he angrily increased the pressure and pain. Next he saw Claire's family and friends. From there he mostly saw Jordan, Madison, and Sarah. What he saw next caused him to pause a moment.

"What's this?"

The images he were seeing were all that of Vergil. He saw when they first met, all the way to their last engagement. The images showed him Claire was confused to why he was acting so strange. Also, he found that she deeply cared for him the same, if not more, than for Dante.

"Do you love a monster that tries to kill you?" he laughed. "How foolish you are girl. You think you can change him? You seem to have false hope."

She cringed at his words and tried to break free of his hold on her and her thoughts.

"T-there is good in h-him…I know it!"

He pushed more energy on her and she cried out.

"You're living in a fantasy."

His wicked grin spread and he switched his tactics.

"Allow me to show you reality."

The images disappeared from his eyes momentarily. Claire's eyebrows furrowed from the new sensations rushing through her. She saw Vergil standing before her with a smile on his face. And soon, she found herself there, right in front of him. He was smiling at her and she suddenly seemed to forget her situation.

"Vergil?"

"Claire…you believe in me…and no one else does."

Dante blinked at her when all the pain she was going through seemingly stopped, and she said Vergil.

"Vergil?" he repeated and looked at his dad. "I should have known."

But Sparda shook his head.

"No…this isn't Vergil's doing. The energy I've been sensing is much more powerful than his."

"Do you think you know who it is, Sparda?" Andrew finally spoke up.

He shook his head. Eva had moved Karen a little ways away from Claire to keep her wits at bay while she continued to console her. They all looked surprised when Claire suddenly smiled.

"Vergil," she said. "I knew you were who I thought you were."

They exchanged glances.

"I've been so worried about you," she continued.

Her words, and smile tied to them, stung Dante more than she would know, plus shot a pang of jealous anger through him.

"Please come back to us. We all miss you so much…"

"What the hell is she going on about now?" Dante was agitated.

"Shh," Sparda said quickly as he continued to study her new behavior.

She shook her head.

"Not true! I can't stop thinking about you!"

Dante felt his heart stop, as breathing suddenly became hard. As if they could feel the sudden change in him, all eyes shot his way. He blinked down at her before putting a hand to his forehead while shaking his own head. Getting up, he walked a few steps away before turning back to stare at her.

"Son, we don't know what's going on right now. We don't even know the context of those words."

"I'm worried about you so much…really we all are," Claire then said.

"See," Andrew looked at him. "She meant she can't stop thinking about him because she's worried."

A large part of Dante wanted to believe that, but his feelings were going wild. And they didn't know the chaos that had been going through his heart for a while now. He had slowly started to believe that Claire had feelings for his brother. From each time that she saw him to the moments where she refused to let him hurt her. Yes, he understood that she could just not want to see him fight his own kin, but love did things to your emotions, made you believe things that to others were obviously not so.

"Dante," Karen spoke up in a shaky voice. "I know my daughter loves you. And I know you know that her heart also holds a special place for everyone in this world. You know she cares deeply for everyone…"

She trailed off a moment as his eyes faded away from her.

"Even with that, I believe I can say for her that you are her first and only, Dante."

He forced a smile to her, still not fully convinced, before trying to push it all aside and kneel down beside her.

"We need to wake her up, Dad," he said with suppressed pain.

"I'm working on it," he replied.

Slowly, he reached up and attempted to touch her, but got zapped by the same energy again.

"We can't see it, but it's still there," he sighed.

Back with Claire, Vergil had suddenly disappeared before her eyes.

"Vergil?" she looked around.

In a flash, Vergil, Sparda, Dante, and Andrew appeared before her. Just as quickly as they appeared, they all suddenly fell to the ground and cried out in pain. The same energy that surrounded her was now thrust onto them.

"Wha—no! Stop it!"

She ran towards them only to be shot back in pain from getting to close.

"NO!" she screamed, tears falling. "What is this!"

Flames shot up around them before engulfing them entirely. Their cries of pain magnified before dying out completely.

"They will die."

Before she could turn to the voice he shot another force of energy at her and knocked her down before his hand was hovering over her head once more.

"I will take great pleasure in killing them all."

Her tears continued as she shook beneath the force of his energy, unable to do anything except talk. Even then, she was starting to get drained and worn out and couldn't manage to do that without a lot of effort.

"W-who are you?" she repeated the question.

He shot a quick blast of energy her way before letting down and laughing.

"Not your concern…"

He stood up.

"…because you're not gonna make it past this."

She shot her wet eyes up as he charged up the energy around him.

"It will be much easier once I get rid of you."

He bent down again and increased the pressure and was rewarded with another whimper from her.

"First thing I'll do…I'll kill Dante."

Her eyes widened.

"I'll burn him alive," he whispered with malice.

Laughter filled her ears, ringing like a gong being nailed right by her head.

"But I'll be your savior…and kill you so you won't have to witness it."

He resumed his horrible laughter while she took in the terrible thoughts that this could really be her end. But thoughts of Dante flooded her mind. At first they were merely images of him, the happy ones. She could see him clearly as if he were standing before her. Then her thoughts animated the man's threat and she could only cry harder upon seeing her beloved burning alive; suffering an unimaginable death. Catching a glimpse of his face in agony in her imagination was all it took to snap the restraint on her powers.

She squeezed her eyes shut before her body erupted with her powers. The man was thrown back from her before he hit the ground with a horrid thud.

"What?" he exclaimed, shielding his eyes from the light.

This event was new to her, because while the powers were her own, they were acting disconnected from her. It was like having a dream about yourself, where you watch but have no control over what you do. She bathed in her light, and it even lifted her off the ground. Then it shot without warning towards the man and he shouted in pain not unlike he made her witness with Dante, Sparda, Vergil and Andrew.

"How are you-AHH!"

As quick as he came, he was gone before. The dream-world faded before her as her eyes finally, albeit slowly, opened. She looked through half-asleep eyes, not really grasping what she was seeing or where she was. Her powers, like all the things she did at one point, were mirrored. Her sudden outburst had caused Dante, Sparda, and Andrew to move back, taking the women with them for safety. Claire's powers only blinded them and forced them back. They watched her with amazement as she basked in a most magnificent light, floating slightly off the ground.

The light died, she eventually touched the ground, and they were freed from their frozen states and looks of awe. Like usual when Claire was involved, Dante moved first. He dropped to her side and hesitantly reached to touch her. He smiled slightly to find no hindrances before lifting her and pulling her flush to him.

"Thank God," he breathed out.

After holding her a moment, and taking in her scent and feel, he pulled back to see her eyelids half open and looking at nothing in particular.

"Claire," he whispered. "You okay?"

She didn't move immediately, and when she did she glanced about her to take in her surroundings before her eyes rested on her boyfriend's. His smile switched to a frown when her eyes immediately teared up.

"Claire what's—"

Her hands shakily reached up to touch his face and hold it weakly before throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest.

"I was scared!"

He froze a moment.

"Dante I was so scared!"

"Oh Claire," he said above a whisper. "What happened to you?"

She didn't answer, and she didn't show any signs of doing it soon. She was shaking hard, probably harder than he could remember her ever doing. Sparda let out a sigh of relief that she was fine, and so did Andrew. Eva and Karen looked on, but only Eva was smiling she was safe. All Karen could do was watch as her daughter clung to Dante with all she was worth. She knew she loved him very much, but this was the first time she was able to see that statement in action. She was grateful for him being there for her like this. Yes, this was something she needed to see. And after her conversation with her husband, she hoped that someday he could see it too.

It took a while to console her, which worried Dante to what ever it was she just went through. The tale she gave them shocked all of them. Sparda wanted to ask so many questions and could hardly resist refraining. When she was finally done he asked her what the man's name was. Disappointment was obvious on his face when she told him she never got told. The three demons were pondering how he knew Vergil; what was their connection? They couldn't imagine her pain when she had to see them suffering, not to mention the own pain she endured from the onslaughts of negative energy.

Karen and Eva approached Claire after her story, both for hugs and thankfulness she was okay. They offered her something to eat and the choice to rest which she shook her head.

"Thank you but I'm fine…well as fine as I can be," she added after seeing her mom's face flash serious disbelief.

She turned to Sparda.

"Actually I wanted to talk to you more about Vergil…this as me really worried about him."

She didn't notice Dante's eyes narrow or his slight shudder.

"Why's that?" Sparda asked.

She looked down.

"I can't really say. It's almost as if I have a connection with him now."

Dante's grip began to loosen.

"…I almost feel as if I have an obligation to try and help him."

His arms left her unexpectedly, and she found herself sitting alone on the ground. He was standing with his back turned.

"He wants to kill you…you know that right?"

His voice was rough and it somewhat startled them, mostly Claire.

"And if you keep this up he probably will!" he turned sharply.

"Dante," Sparda moved to put a hand on his son's shoulder and calm him but he moved back.

"Dante…what's wrong?" Claire frowned.

"We've each risked our lives for you!" he continued.

Claire suddenly became just as angry.

"What is your problem?" she got to her feet.

He looked shocked, as if he never expected her to get angry and confront him. But that washed over him quickly.

"You just don't get it do you?" he snapped.

She stepped towards him, ready to shout before he beat her to the punch.

"Do you love…"

He trailed off. She studied his face a moment. He looked panicked…or scared even to finish his question. The only two who knew what the rest of that sentence was were Andrew and Sparda. But he spit it out so fast that Claire didn't catch it.

"What?" was all she could ask.

He shook his head before whipping around and quickly heading for the house.

"Dante!" she shouted.

"Leave me alone!" he responded without a second glance. "Go worry about Vergil," his voice mocked.

The door slammed behind him. Claire's mouth hung in his absence before she looked to each of them.

"Did I miss something?" she exclaimed.

Karen was just as lost as her daughter. A second ago she was praising Dante for taking care of her little girl. Now she perhaps felt like smacking him fore belittling her.

"Claire."

Everyone turned to Sparda.

"Please try to forgive my son…he can be a real idiot."

"No kidding," she nodded.

"But…in this case I understand entirely."

She waited for him to say more.

"You are his first love. And from what I can say of knowing him, you will be his only love. He puts on a strong front to protect you. And along those lines I know he will do anything to protect you. It's not a stretch to say he would die to keep you safe."

She took in the information with anticipation of the point he was trying to make. She agreed with his words, she knew they were true, but she wanted an answer.

"He thinks you're in love with Vergil."

**Hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know anything ;-)**

**Updated: 10:49p.m. 5/29/11**

**~Phil. 4:13~**


	24. Our Next Step

**I stole someone's computer when they weren't looking and finished this chapter (haha just kidding…or am I?) Anyway I praise the patience of you guys. Did you like the last chapter at all? Nobody seemed to review it and I got a little nervous. Again, I'll try and go computer hopping whenever I can to keep this going so thank you for the continued readership. This is the longest chapter I have ever written for any of my stories. My way of saying thanks for waiting, Happy 4****th**** of July, and please don't hate me.**

"He…what?"

Did she hear that right? Sparda sighed and shook his head.

"But actually I can't blame him too much right now, Claire. We are a lot alike. You **are** practically his life. He's never been good to handle his emotions at times and so right now he is lashing out a bit. He's doing it because even the slightest chance that he will lose you…"

He trailed off and gauged her reaction. Like everyone else, she was silent and watched him as he explained it.

"Well it would destroy him."

"But he should **know**—"

"Well think about it," he interjected. "You keep worrying about Vergil. Filling your thoughts and actions towards his well-being, you have been ignoring him a bit. And just now while you were being attacked in your mind you said "I can't stop thinking about you", referring to Vergil."

She stood up quickly.

"But I only meant that I was worried about him!"

Sparda nodded.

"We know. You said that, too. But Dante is hard headed."

Her face fell more.

"You haven't done anything wrong, really," he continued. "Just go let him know you love him. He just needs reassurance. He might have pushed you away just now, but you are the **only** thing he wants and needs. He just won't be honest with himself."

Her glance had fallen to the ground. She felt awful that he didn't think she loved him. Even if it was his fault for overreacting, she still couldn't stomach the thought that he had doubts. Her mom put her hand on her shoulder from behind.

"Mom…" she turned.

"Better go then," she smiled.

She returned the expression with a quick nod before turning and running into the house. She searched every room as she came to it sometimes going back to a room to make sure she searched every corner. He wasn't downstairs or in the library so that left the upstairs, probably his room. As she got closer she sensed him, sure enough, in his room. There was reason to be in a hurry, but she mused that she probably should have knocked first.

Her bad manners were rewarded when she barged in to see him standing at the foot of his bed wearing only athletic shorts. He had a white towel on his head that hung its sides past his shoulders; he was freshly showered. He turned with a start, giving her a front row seat to his body. The famous blush appeared almost immediately. But, instead of running off, instead of throwing a shout or exclamation to his almost nakedness, instead of adverting her eyes to talk with him, she just stood there. The thought that popped into her mind was that this was actually the perfect way to show him she did love him; to not be bashful and show she would only be willing to step outside her comfort zone for him.

So with quick steps she trekked towards him.

"Claire—"

Her lips stopped his mouth firmly. Her arms snaked up his bare skin. The touch caused both of them to shiver. Her face grew hot but she didn't pull away until her arms reached their destination around his neck. From there she was able to pull him down to her enough to deepen the kiss quickly before finally pulling back, a little shy from her endeavors.

"I love you, Dante."

She kept telling herself to make eye contact with him, regardless of how much she wanted to run and hide from her bold moves and actions. But she soon found herself paralyzed with shyness, just dying to look away. The look he was giving her was not helping. His ice blue eyes were wide with shock, and for the love of God he was actually blushing a little. That merely aided in setting a new record for how hot her face could get. But she had a mission.

"D-don't ever think for even a second I love anyone else but you. I may care a lot for your brother, but I don't love him like I love you…got it?"

But she couldn't take it any longer, and had to advert her eyes a little. His eyes softened, finally, and he let himself smile.

"Thank you, Claire," he pulled her to him. "I needed to hear that."

A moment after, she twitched a little in his embrace and he pulled back, taking in her full blushing face. He laughed.

"I'm sorry. That must have been hard for you," he released her and started for his dresser. "Just a second."

His arm reached for a shirt but he was stopped abruptly. She had reached out and grabbed the arm by his side. He turned to see her looking down; he couldn't see her face at all.

"I-it's not like I mind."

When he didn't say or do anything she looked up to see his confused face and she looked away quickly.

"I-I mean…I don't…mind…if it's you. It's not like I…hate it."

It took a few moments for him to register Claire's behavior. Once he figured it out, a smile adorned his features. His hands moved to hold her by her waist, just begging for her eyes to look into his. Which, slowly, they did.

"You'll never know how cute you are."

The words caused a tingle down her spine, as he had moved down and whispered them past her ear before placing a few open mouth kisses on her neck. Even though she said she didn't mind, he was shocked when her hands softly pressed against the skin of his chest. He didn't think she was serious. The last time they were like this she was overpowered because of him. They had yet to progress half as far. But he was far from complaining. When her hands dared to slide themselves down to his abs, she was rewarded with a moan. It caused her to stop in confusion, wondering if she had done something wrong.

"Don't stop, Claire," came his husky whisper. "It feels good."

Of course her face lit up, and she was hesitant to do it again. Sensing her falter, he brought a hand to her face, lifted it up and kissed her. Slowly he started to move her to the bed, where he wrapped an arm around her back and gently lowered her down. He broke the kiss only to shift his position as not to crush her underneath. Now one arm was holding him up why the other moved her face around so he could kiss her as he wished. They broke slowly this time, and he looked down at her adorable tinted face.

"Claire…"

He was shocked, yet relieved to see her giving him an encouraging smile, silently asking to keep going. If her touch to his skin weren't so electrifying, he would have thought he was dreaming. Her hands resumed their place on his chest before they started to move and explore again. He moaned out her name this time, and buried his face in her neck where she could feel his hot breath.

"You…have no idea what you do to me," he placed open mouth kisses along her neck and to her shoulder.

Her hands were on his waist now, where his actions caused them to squeeze a little and he finally received a small, shy, moan from her as well. She could feel him smile as he continued to kiss along her neck, before finally daring lower to her exposed collarbone. Her hands squeezed more at the action as she elicited a sharp gasp at the alien touch. He waited for any signs to continue.

This was a major improvement from last time. They were both willing to enjoy this together, and both were able to control themselves more. So instead of pushing further without her consent, he was willing to wait, even if it meant she asked him to stop.

"…it…feels nice," she said above a whisper.

And he grinned; he could just hear her blush. So he gently continued, and slowly increased the intensity of the kisses and soon started to lick and nip here and there. Her arms quickly wrapped around his back and she pulled him down to her as the emotions started to grow.

"Dante…what is…I don't…"

As broken as the statement was, he knew what she was saying.

"I know Claire," he pulled back to search her face. "I feel it too."

She wanted more than to touch him like this, and it both scared and thrilled her. He mused that he had felt this every time they merely kissed, but dared not tell her that. She might never know the full effects she had on him. Her declaration that she felt the same was pushing his senses into overdrive, and he had to really fight to keep them tame. He was inwardly leaping with joy to hear such deep emotion, finally, from the girl he loved.

"We should stop," he said reluctantly.

While still breathing a bit heavily, Claire gave him another heart-stopping smile with a nod, secretly she was thankful he was able to stop. He got off her and pulled her up into an embrace. Both were happy with what happened, and how it was of their own desires.

"I love you, Dante," she said into his chest. "…so much."

"Babygirl," he laughed. "I believe it."

She grinned.

"And I love you, too."

They stayed like that for many moments, him slowly rocking her back and forth as his hand rubbed her back. Her blush finally died down and she remembered the mission she had prior to being completely whisked away by him…yet again. She was silent at first as she pulled away from him and took him by the hand. She led him out to his balcony that overlooked the back yard.

"I do love you Dante…but this was another example of our failure to communicate."

His eyes grew softer at her statement and he felt a little guilty. True, he had rushed off again without really understanding the situation, or her feelings.

"I don't know of any relationship that can last without communication. So please…please…**please** help me work on this."

He gave a nod. They stared in silence.

"You were pretty beautiful back there," he said suddenly. "I had a hard time restraining myself."

Her blush came back in full swing, as if it never left.

"W-what are you talking about so suddenly…you idiot," she crossed her arms uncomfortably.

He took a step forward, his perversion fueled by her shy cuteness. Oh, how he loved what he could do to her.

"Maybe next time you could take your top off?" he started to pull her dress up slowly.

Her mouth dropped at his words and her fists clenched immediately. The blush almost becoming permanent.

"**D-DANTE YOU IDIOT!"**

Her powers charged up full and gave him no time to react before she landed a clean punch to his chest that sent him flying off the balcony.

Sparda, Eva, and Karen gave a jump in shock from the outburst before they saw the half-demon land horribly in the yard beyond them.

"Uhh…" Karen stared, mouth agape.

Eva and Sparda laughed, clearly in the know.

"They made up," Sparda said as if it were obvious.

Karen looked to them as they sat across from her on the patio. While the lovers went to make amends, Eva made drinks and they sat in the chairs surrounding the clear glass table.

"What?" she asked.

"That's what it looks like when they make up," Eva smiled.

She wanted to ask how the heck that is what it looked like to make up, but Karen decided it would all get explained in due time. It was the same with the demons and the powers issues; it would all come in time.

Dante sat up slowly and brushed himself off. He was breathing a bit heavily after the sudden attack. He put a hand to his chest where the impact was made and gave a laugh.

"Damn she's gettin' stronger!" he exclaimed through a breath.

He looked up just in time to see her glaring at him before turning around and stomping out of sight.

"Oh come on Babe!" he shouted. "You know you're sexy!"

"**JERK!" **came her reply.

He laughed again before getting up and heading over to the adults on the patio.

"Sorry Mrs. Summers," he put a hand on her shoulder. "I hope you can forgive me for my actions and words earlier."

She stared at him, her mouth had yet to close, really, from seeing him fly out and hit the ground. And then she grew a slight blush at finally focusing on his rather chiseled physique.

"Did Claire do that to you?"

He laughed harder.

"She did. She's pretty strong, ya know."

Karen nodded nervously.

"I-I see."

"Glad you guys made up," Andrew spoke up.

"Yeah," Dante ran a hand through his hair.

Sparda watched his son rub his chest.

"So what exactly did you do to get her to do that to you?"

"Told her she was beautiful."

Eva huffed, "Something tells me you did something perverted."

Karen's ears perked up.

"Well, yes. Not really something she isn't used to with me though."

Karen moved forward and put her forehead to the table.

"There is so much I don't know…"

They all laughed.

"Well there isn't really anything we can do right now is there?" Dante cast a look to his dad who shrugged. "Then I'm gonna train."

He walked out to the yard a ways and randomly started to stretch out.

"Train?" Karen asked.

"Well he didn't get that good a body without it," Eva laughed.

Not long after, Claire reappeared.

"Is it really okay to just be sitting here like this?" she walked up to them.

"Well now that you are here we can talk," Karen started. "I was gonna tell you that your dad is on the ropes still."

"You didn't tell him where we were, did you?" she cautiously sat down.

"I did," she took a drink. "Needless to say he didn't approve. I tried to explain to him how I got to know Dante more…and about all this demon stuff but he wouldn't listen," she sighed. "He wanted us to come home immediately and I just hung up."

Claire's face fell.

"I see."

She then casually glanced up to see Dante doing push ups with one hand to the ground and his other behind his back.

"What the heck is he up to?"

"Workout," Sparda said simply.

She blushed a little when he looked up and threw her a wink.

"He needs to put a shirt on," she mumbled, though loud enough to hear.

Her mom laughed.

"Oh come on, Claire," she patted her back. "Don't pretend you don't like it."

"M-Mom," she said a bit startled.

"It's not bad to admit it. He is **yours** after all," she continued. "Looks like you bagged a pretty sexy one too."

Claire's mouth hung.

"Oh admit it," she shook her head. "You're a lucky girl."

Her blush continued to grow.

"Thank you Mrs. Summers!" Dante shouted across without looking up from his continued push-ups.

She looked over at him with a start.

"He heard that?" she looked at them.

"Another demon trait," Eva shrugged with a smile.

"Ah," she nodded. "You're welcome, Dante!"

"Mom!" she exclaimed. "Don't encourage that pervert," she hissed.

"Just saying it's something you should embrace…literally…he's quite the looker really."

For a few more minutes, Karen kept embarrassing her daughter while she continued to deny most of the things she said. When they calmed down a bit, Sparda interjected.

"Claire could you tell me more about this person you saw?"

She was silent while she thought a moment.

"Like what?"

"Well…just refresh my mind…anything."

"He knew all of you," she looked at him then to Andrew. "And Dante and Vergil."

"You said he looked like a priest?" Andrew asked.

She nodded.

"He had the gown and everything," she shrugged. "But that man is far from it."

Sparda looked at Andrew who shook his head, their silent communication evident.

"I don't think I can recall ever hearing of a demon like that," Andrew answered. "But Sparda…you should let Claire know what you are thinking."

"Let me know what?" she looked at him.

The demon shifted a bit in his seat.

"Demons are popping up more and more around here. We definitely believe the portal has been opened to a point where we can't shut it off completely anymore. We've been trying since it was opened but each time we come to find it just opens again."

She bit her lip; that was not what she wanted to hear.

"What portal?" asked Karen.

"Well…to be blunt, the portal to hell," Andrew looked at her.

She swallowed that bit pretty hard and froze for a moment as she searched their faces for any sign they were just pulling her leg.

"Oh my gosh," she put a hand over her mouth. "You can't be serious."

"If not for your husband right now Karen," Sparda started, "we would have asked that you all stay with us for the time being."

Both Claire and her mom looked at him.

"Because that way we can protect you better," he finished.

"Do you think it's getting that bad out?" Claire asked.

Andrew nodded," And I think you deserve to know what happened when I talked with your friends at that get-together."

Claire had completely forgot that their friends were in on the truth as well. It's amazing how fast everything was coming at her.

"They demanded to see you…your three friends I believe?" he looked at her and she nodded. "One of them was really mad that they you didn't tell them anything. Said she wanted to kill Dante."

Claire let out a sigh of annoyance, "That would be Jordan."

Behind them, Dante shuddered.

"Anyway, I was surprised how well they took it at face value. But I don't think this is gonna be small talk any longer. Actually I'm waiting for the media to start going crazy."

"Ah that's true," Karen nodded. "I'm sure by now something's on the news right?"

"Yeah," Claire looked down.

This was really becoming a mess.

"Maybe they won't believe them," Sparda shrugged.

"Well, knowing my generation," Claire started, mentioning the fact a few of her graduating class were there, "somebody's gotta have video on their phone."

"You're right," Karen nodded. "I wouldn't doubt if you guys are YouTube stars by now."

The two demons exchanged glances.

"More importantly," Andrew started. "Are the demons here now. I don't want to admit it, but I think the three of us are going to be busy taking care of them until we can figure out how to shut the portal again."

Dante gave an annoyed sigh, while Sparda ran a hand through his hair with a shake of his head.

"Yeah. And it would be easier for us…and I believe less stressful for Dante if you and your parents stayed here," he looked at Claire.

She looked at her mom.

"Well I am all for that idea…but James is just so stubborn," she shook her head. "It would take a miracle for him to come to understand everything and accept you guys."

Simultaneously, Dante, Sparda, Andrew, and Claire tensed up and shot their glances towards the house.

"I sense it too," Sparda said quickly.

In a second, Sparda and Andrew were gone from sight.

"What the heck?" Karen said in surprise.

"Demons…"

They looked at Dante, who had quickly come to Claire's side and put a hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there

"So you guys just know or…?" Karen searched him for an answer.

"We can sense them…hard to explain," he looked at her.

"DANTE!"

The call of his name made him shoot his head in the direction that Andrew and his dad had left. He could only assume they could use a hand; after all he had continued to sense more and more demons gathering.

"This is getting annoying," he said gruffly, "Well, forgive me ladies."

In seconds, he had gathered each of them in his arms and had jumped up into the air and over the house to the front yard. The one doing the most screaming was Karen, since Claire and Eva were accustomed to this form of travel. The moment they touched ground across the road from the house, they were all shocked to see hoards of the disgusting beings coming at them.

"Oh my gosh!" Karen screamed again.

"Mom it's okay calm—"

But in the midst of the hoard there was something else. Something that made Claire finally get scared, and potentially send Karen into shock. Eva felt their emotions as well and Dante's eyes widened a moment before he had left them instantly. He knew why Sparda had called him out. It wasn't because they couldn't handle the amount, even though it was one of the largest at a time they could remember. The demons had made a circle around him, one that was slowly getting smaller as they approached him to feed. The question on Claire's mind, and probably the others, was why the heck he was there.

"DAD!" Claire screamed before shooting forward.

Her scream reached his ears and he looked over to see his daughter coming at him at lightening speeds.

"Claire!" he shouted. "…no stay back!"

Again, just like the last time his life was threatened at the lake, he amazed her. He still refused to let her get hurt. He confused her like no other. He managed to hurt her too, but he still loved her enough for this?

"Idiot!" she shouted, though this time the commotion around drowned it out.

Dante sliced through a collection around him before turning around and catching her as she shot forward.

"No Claire! You need to stay back and protect our moms."

She pushed at him, "But my dad!"

"I know," he tightened his grip when she almost broke free, "Leave it to me. It's my top priority!"

He released her then, trusting she would listen to him on this one. She helplessly watched as the three of them continued to break through the crowds of monsters to get to James. With great reluctance, she returned to her mom's and Eva's side.

"Claire," her mom started to tear up.

She embraced her to calm her growing fears, "It's gonna be okay. Dante won't let him die."

The words sounded sure from Claire, but looking up to see the demons had almost reached her husband wasn't. After clearing his immediate area, Dante leaped high into the air to try and make up some ground without having to fight to get there. They anticipated his move, and soon he found himself battling in mid-air.

"Sparda we're running out of time here!" Andrew said angrily.

The demon looked at his friend and looked at Claire's dad. It was true, they had probably half a minute to reach him before it was too late. They had been lucky that the demons weren't too bright, it seemed. They just continued to slowly advance on James. From personal knowledge, Sparda knew they enjoyed the feeling of their food's growing fear just as much as the taste itself. Surely they were getting their money's worth today.

After a few more slices, it became apparent to the tree they were not going to make it on time. Claire seemed to have realized the same thing too. There were no real thoughts in her actions when she leaped forth, abandoning the girls without warning. Her powers surged forth and she came to life in a brilliant golden glow. Dante reacted too slow. When she reached him he shot an arm out to get her but she was quick and alert to dodge him this time. The same futile attempts came for Sparda and Andrew.

The moment she reached her first large collection of demons she was breathtakingly amazing. Her powers were magnified 100 fold, it seemed, as she shot her energy around like it was nothing. The slightest touch of her powers to any demon destroyed them on the spot. Her emotions and drive to protect her father were running the show now.

Everyone on the scene had taken notice to this display of majesty, her father no exception. He would have been shouting at her to keep away if she wasn't leaving him awestruck and breathless. He got a taste for her strange abilities back at the lake, but this was no comparison. She was firing out with everything she had.

But she would soon find she couldn't go on forever. Everything had an end and so did her energy. She landed in the middle of the gradually shrinking circle and ran up to her father. He looked up into her face when she dropped down to him, as his legs had long-since given out from a combination of fear and her display. She was talking to him, but he was so amazed that he couldn't focus.

The demons took advantage of her being distracted and the circle of them finally shot forward, happy to claim one more meal than expected. She turned back to them, ready to take them on, only to have her heart stop upon realization. It was sadly true; she had used up everything she had at the moment to get to her dad. They seemed to be in slow motion as she watched them bare their fangs, claws and those that had weapons were ready to tear her and her father apart. The instant before they reached them her dad had pulled her close to him as she screamed and closed her eyes.

The sound of flesh being bitten, clawed, and pierced was something that would haunt her for a long time. There were no words to describe that kind of noise. But upon looking up, the sight she was met with was possibly a thousand times more horrid, at least in her eyes. Dante, Sparda, and Andrew had reached them. You could debate if it was 'just in time' or not. Sparda and Andrew were first to arrive and took on the demons coming at them from behind. Dante was further back from the start. He was the fastest of the three, but had more demons to go through plus the distance. All he could do was jump in front of the fatal blows, at least fatal to Claire and James.

She wanted to scream, pass out, cry. He stood before her dripping in blood. A few blades were sticking through his torso, legs and arms. Many demons had their fangs sunk into him and the others were gripping and trying to tear his flesh as he stood there. She shakily looked up into his face, and was shocked to see him actually giving off a smile. It was a slightly pained smile, but still a smile.

"That," he said with an angry laugh, "…was too damn close for comfort."

Claire's mouth continued to hang lower and tears were pushing at her eyes. Her heart was continuing to wrench at the image of him like that. James was in the same state, trying to stay sane as he watched the half-demon. Sparda and Andrew continued taking care of the demons from behind them, but the girl and her father were clearly drawn to the vision before them. While Sparda and Andrew fought, they were happy to at least note the demon population was growing smaller before them.

With a growl of annoyance, Dante gripped his sword tighter and thrust it around him in a circle. All demons holding on to him were cut through like butter, their blood shooting around like a geyser, only coating him more.

"Claire you can't…scare me like that," looked down at her with a sigh.

"Son, whenever you feel like helping again," Sparda called. "...well that would be great!"

He gave an irritated sigh, "Bossy old man."

Looking down he reached behind his back and, with great ease, pulled out the impending blades. Small spurts of blood shot forth, but he didn't make any sounds of pain.

"Now..." he held his sword up, ready to go, "This time please stay here."

As if everything he did was nothing, he simply patted her on the head before joining back up with his dad and Andrew. She sat there staring in front of her, unmoving, albeit her mind was cruising. But she just sat there, frozen to the ground. The same state was befalling her father beside her.

So, oblivious to the slaying of monsters accompanied with their blood curdling screams, they sat there until every demon around was slain. Now area across from their house was a blood-bathed field of disembodied limbs.

"I think it's time we stop messing around."

James and Claire looked up at Andrew when he spoke. The three heroes were standing together a little ways away from them but within earshot.

"We need to keep Claire and her family here. That was almost deadly," he finished.

Sparda and Dante exchanged glances and agreed.

"And it looks like the old days are back," Sparda started. "We don't know how far the demons are spread out...could be just this town or not..."

"Don't even finish that," Dante growled. "I know what you're gonna say."

"Hey," Andrew put his hand on his shoulder, "None of us are happy about this but it's gotta be done or people are gonna die."

Claire's eyes widened a little at that statement.

"Best case scenario is that it's only this town," said Sparda. "If that's the case we could put up a barrier for now...maybe even get people evacuated?"

"Yeah," Dante huffed, "Just walk up to their houses one by one and say 'Hey demons are gonna kill you if you stay here so please get the hell out'."

The demon shot his son an annoyed look, "Whenever you wanna grow up..."

Dante's hand moved to grab his dad's collar but Andrew caught it, "This is not the time."

Dante looked away angrily, "It's never the time."

Claire finally stood up, though a bit shaky on her feet at first. James watched her, as she finally brought him out of a trance as well. She took a few slow steps towards the trio then stopped.

"..D...Dante..."

The half-demon looked over at her and grew worried to see her trembling slightly. He took a step towards her, his mouth open to say her name but was stopped when she ran towards him. Her arms flew around him and she was pressed into him before he could say anything at all.

"I thought you were gonna die!" she all but screamed. "T-those demons...they stabbed you...bit you...!"

Completely oblivious to it the entire time until there, Dante felt like a tremendous idiot. He was wrong to assume Claire understood the amount of damage he could take at a time without dying. He couldn't imagine what she must have been put through when he stood before her, bloody and impaled. Mind you he couldn't have really done any apologizing at the time and there was no other way to stop their attack, but he could have explained it to her sooner.

"Oh God...I'm so sorry Claire."

He stabbed his sword into the ground, where it disappeared like usual, before bringing his tired arms up to embrace her shaky frame.

"I should have told you sooner...it takes a lot more than that to kill me," he laughed a little.

She hardly found it amusing, as her tears continued to spill as she shook her buried face into his chest.

"...but there was no other way," he said softly. "You know I'd die to keep you safe."

The words struck a cord somewhere within James heart as he watched his daughter cling onto the half-demon with her life. At some point, Karen had joined James side and hugged him hard, just like Claire with Dante.

"I'm...fine, Dear," he managed to say.

Following the trend, Eva was beside Sparda, who quickly put his arm around her.

"Seriously."

The word and the laugh brought them all back to watching Claire and Dante.

"I am fine you know," he smiled down at her.

She finally looked up at him with such sad wet eyes he felt his heart skip a moment.

"What do I keep telling you about communicating," she shook him. "Dante you're so-"

From the moment she started talking he had slowly started to bend down before finally reaching her lips with his. She quickly kissed him back but was also quick to pull away. Her eyes went to scanning his body to verify his statements of being okay. The body left his clothing tattered and ripped. Really it was amazing he still had a shirt on. His jeans, she was thankful, were still pretty much intact that she needn't worry they fall off.

Back to his shirt, she ran her hands over it slowly and searchingly. He tingled a little at the innocent actions. There were times he wished she were aware of what she did to him, even with her smallest of smiles.

He was still bleeding a bit where he was pierced. And looking down, Claire realized that he had once again stained her clothes with his blood from embracing him.

"Your cuts are still pretty bad," she said, more to herself.

He took her hands and stopped them. One, to assure her he was fine, and two to stop her touches from driving him insane.

"I am fine, Claire," he pressed. "Trust me on this one, okay?"

But she refused with a shake of her head, "How can **anyone** be okay after being stabbed you idiot," her voice was slightly irritated.

They went back and forth a few more times before Claire really got frustrated with him.

"Let me look at it," she almost growled.

"No it's **fine**," he was also getting irritated but laughed at the same time.

He did enjoy teasing her whenever he could, however.

"Stupid! Just let me look!"

"No. It's fine."

"Then you should be fine letting me look!"

"You're being stubborn."

"**You're** the stubborn one!"

"Then we both are."

"I'm being serious!"

"Me too."

In an instant she had cleanly tore off the bloodied and ripped cloth from his frame. The action startled everyone a bit, especially Dante. Her hands freely roamed his skin, turning him this way and that. She saw the places he was stabbed looked like mere cat scratches. She was relieved to know he was telling the truth, and she was amazed at how quickly his body healed from such attacks.

"Wow."

His voice caused her to look up at him.

"You want me pretty bad don't you?" he rose a brow, his million dollar smirk accompanying it.

That gave Claire a moment to realize her actions and current position. If it were an anime, her parents would be blue in the face watching their 'innocent' daughter practically feeling up the half naked half demon.

"Wha...what!" she screamed and took a step back. "I was just checking if you were okay!"

He loved how riled up she could get because of him.

"Whatever you say, Sweetheart," he waved his hand. "But I don't think any of us believe that...I mean you practically couldn't wait to undress me back there."

The color of her face kept rising with each word.

"I didn't realize you were the kind that liked to do it in front of people..."

That did it.

She shot her fist at him but he grabbed it and stopped her before they went into all out war.

"Why are you such a jerk?" she glared up at him while he merely smiled.

"Because you'll never know how cute you are when you're like this," his eyes grew soft.

She looked away with irritation and happened to catch her parents watching them behind Eva, Sparda, and Andrew.

"Ah, Dad!" she gasped.

She let slip he was there. She rushed over to him but he stopped her with... a smile?

"I'm fine Claire...thanks to you."

His eyes then traveled to Dante but his smile fell a little, "...and to you."

Everybody there was waiting for the old James to start yelling and resuming his anger from when Claire left the house.

"Dante was it?" he broke away from Karen and headed up to him.

"Yes sir," the half demon barely managed out.

James then extended his hand, "I have to thank you for saving us back there."

"Y-Yeah," he shook it. "Not a problem."

James watched him a moment before withdrawing his hand. Dante felt a bit uneasy under his eyes and waited for his next move.

"Dante…do you mind if we talk right now?"

Unknowingly, everyone's stomachs fell a little at that statement; it looked like he was starting to go back to normal.

And so they all retired to the back patio like before, but not until Claire made quick work of clearing away the remains of the demons with her powers. And on the way to the backyard James had walked beside his daughter while he was apologizing for his actions and promised to explain himself.

When they sat down, everyone offered to leave just Dante and James to their talk, but James assured them that he needed to talk to all of them. Needless to say Dante was happy about not being left alone with that man.

"I'm overwhelmed about everything," he had started. "And I have to say I'm still trying to believe this whole demon thing."

He looked up at nothing in particular.

"Claire…you're my only child."

Her ears perked up.

"…and I acted out of selfish anger that you were getting so attached to Dante…because I guess I'm just not ready to give you up."

Karen watched her husband with soft eyes. She couldn't remember a time when he got so personal about his feelings.

"Which is stupid…because I know that is not what you are trying to do," he shook his head with a laugh. "And I guess everything was just building up to the point where I exploded on you without reason," he looked at her. "I'm sorry about that."

The young couple both mumbled out that it was fine and such, as they were starting to worry about his out of character moment.

"But maybe part of you understands why I was afraid to know my daughter was dating a demon."

Claire frowned a little, "He's half-demon."

James actually laughed at the correction, "It's gonna take me so long to treat this as not a big deal. I'm still waiting to wake up."

At Claire's correction, Dante had slipped his hand under the table to find her and give it a squeeze. She smiled beside him but kept her eyes on her dad.

"I'll do my best to explain this to you afterwards if you'd like," Sparda spoke up.

James finally looked his way.

"So you're his real dad?"

The demon nodded.

"This really is gonna take a while," he laughed a little but was serious.

"Understandable," Sparda nodded. "We just appreciate you taking the time to try. You're wife has been very generous to us as well," he slipped her a smile.

"Yep," he put his hand on hers on the table, "My better half."

The group was able to share a laugh and bring smiles to everyone's faces for a better atmosphere, something Claire had be dying to see between their families the moment she discovered Dante's secret. The topic had switched to the previous battle.

"Dante…back there you said something that really got to me," James started.

Dante felt that same regretting feeling he seemed to get a lot from when he expected James was about to ridicule him.

"Don't worry it was a good thing," he said after seeing Dante's face fall. "You told my daughter you would protect her even if it cost you your life."

Claire smiled at the words.

"Everyone tells the one they love that…but you clearly showed me that when you stepped in front of those demons before they got to us."

Then his face twisted a moment, "I can't believe you can get impaled like that and live."

Claire shuddered and Dante laughed, "Sorry to have done that suddenly."

"So are you guys, like, impossible to kill or what?" he then asked.

They shook their heads.

"No but it just takes a lot," Andrew, the usual quite one, said.

"And you're a family friend?"

He nodded and went back to what he was saying, "It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions like that. I owe you all an apology."

They smiled.

"Instead of the way I treated you, I should be honored that such a person cares for my little girl," he looked at the half-demon.

Claire was inwardly jumping for joy at those words. Plus the fact that he just called Dante a person!

"But…"

Again, Dante's stomach plummeted, and a few of them looked on with worry at his sharp change in tone.

"I really will kill you if you hurt her."

Ah, the James they all knew and loved.

"But I don't think I'll have to worry about that will I, Son?" he looked at him.

He shook his head quickly, "No, Sir, you have my word."

The conversation continued on and at one point Eva, Claire and Karen headed in for more drinks. This left the guys out to talk some more. They gave him the answers to all his questions, and they seemed to be endless. He asked about the difference of half-demons and demons, the difference between them and the demons that attacked them, why they looked human to him, about their special abilities, plus Claire's, and so on. The conversation became serious as he explained to James why he was attacked and that they would like to keep him at their house until they figured things out. He agreed to the idea almost immediately, which surprised them.

"I don't want another scare like that one," he had said.

The girls had came back outside but decided to not join the guys, as they figured their conversation would do better without any distractions. But just having Claire around was enough to distract Dante and so he was pretty much in and out of the conversation. But, this time he had reason to be distracted more. Nobody knew how much James' approval of their relationship was something Dante had been dying to hear. And now that that hurdle was hopped, he had something he needed to talk to her about.

He had excused himself from the conversation and headed upstairs to his room to get something. When he returned, Claire and her mom had somehow gotten involved in a hose war near the garden. Actually the war was over claiming dominance of the hose to spray the other; both were failing pretty badly. Eva merely sat on the sidelines and laughed at their futile attempts.

He just couldn't resist how adorable she was, and so he decided he wanted her attention on him for the moment. He disappeared on the spot only to sweep her up in his arms, taking her breath away and startling Eva and Karen.

"Hi there!" he beamed down at her disoriented nature.

"Y-You moron! Don't scare me like that," she smacked his chest.

"You were so cute I couldn't resist!"

Their whole argument had drawn everyone's attention, and James was looking on with the most interest. He had yet to see a fun interaction between his daughter and her 'real' boyfriend. Karen had given up the hose fight, seeing her daughter had a new opponent she just couldn't compete with. So she went over and joined Eva who had retired to the patio steps and watched the show.

"You say that all the time!" she actually managed to jump out of his hold. "And it's a terrible excuse!"

He merely laughed down at her and tried to scoop her up again. This slowly turned into another of their little power-filled fights. James was amazed how fast his daughter moved with her 'abilities'. And her magic was truly awe-striking to him.

"Why are you always so immature?" she shot her fists at him after another of his perverted comments.

"I'll stop that when you stop being so irresistible."

That merely got her more riled up. At one point, he caught both her fists and she paused when his eyes softened and he gave a beautiful smile.

"Uh…"

"Actually Claire…there's something I wanna talk to you about."

Everyone's attention was completely caught at his sudden change in atmosphere and behavior. His hands guided hers between them and he squeezed them a little.

"What's wrong?"

He caught her worried tone and shook his head, "Nothing," he laughed the word out.

"I'm so thankful where we are right now," he started. "Having your dad's understanding has made my life a little easier."

James mused over the statement and Claire smiled, happy this conversation was about that and not something bad.

"Claire."

He said her name in such a way her skin tingled and a shiver of an unknown feeling rushed up her spine.

"I've been wanting to tell you this for a while now…and I think right now is the right time."

Her heart was beating faster with each word. His eyes were piercing her to her core.

"I don't know what the future brings for us. Seems like everyday we get tested more and more…but it always makes us stronger and closer."

He released one of her hands and moved closer to her, putting his hand on her face.

"I've never really told you how much I appreciate your acceptance of me…how much you mean to me…and how much I love you."

Subconsciously, James stood up as if in a trance as he heard this boy pour his heart out to Claire.

"There's just no one else for me."

He stepped back, his hand left her cheek and his other released hers. But his touch lingered and her cheek felt hot. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something too small for her to see at the moment. He took her left hand in his and paused.

"This is a promise."

He slowly slid the ring on her finger. They gasped, whether they realized it or not. But Claire didn't gasp. She could hardly even breathe as the moment played out before her. The ring had a silver band and at the top was a small pink heart stone with blue stones on both sides. In an instant her eyes were tearing up.

"I know I've been a pain and hard to deal with at times, but I really do treasure you, Claire. I never want to go a day without you."

He took a deep breath, both to prepare for his next careful words and to slow his own heart down.

"I am going to marry you someday."

Her tears finally fell, and the adults were stunned too far to move or speak a word. It wasn't a question; it was a statement. His eyes left no room for hesitations.

"So this is my promise, Claire. I love you."

All she seemed to be able to do right then was stare at the new piece upon her left ring finger. The sun played across it softly, accenting the pink and blue stones together. Slowly her other hand reached up and gently touched it, maybe to make sure that it was actually real. Then she finally looked at him, and gave him another one of her heart-stopping smiles. She flew her arms wide and crashed her body to his, burying her face and seeing how close she could get to him.

"Oh Dante it's so beautiful!"

Her voice was muffled but everyone could hear her choking back the tears she displayed earlier, and her giggles were hard to suppress. His arms were around her the moment she embraced him, his face bent down and buried in her soft pink tresses.

"I love you!" she laughed out. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"

He laughed a little, and so did their onlookers. And at this point she was just dying to kiss his lights out. Pulling back, he met her eyes and understanding and swiftly bent down to claim her. It was a soft embrace at first until she put a hand behind his head to pull him down more. She could feel his smile widen at her moves and felt his hands shift to one behind her back and the other cupping her face to maneuver them to a deeper kiss.

James was finally seeing their relationship for what it was; the curtains were all pushed back. He could never quite put into words what he was feeling from seeing his only child receive such love from another. Karen had put her arm around his waist and smiled up at him. He mused he would be quick to remind the boy that it was a promise ring and that she was still his little girl and that he wasn't ready to give her up quite yet. But that was another story for another time. He knew his daughter was far from stupid, and she carried a fine judgment of what was good and bad for her. Looking back now he was foolish to think she was too young to know what she was doing by loving that boy back, even in knowing his true heritage. Truly, James had a lot he could learn from his daughter.

The couple was still going at it, much to the amazement and amusement of their audience. At one point, Claire's hands had moved up to completely hold Dante's face. But oxygen did become an issue. They had done well to break in short bursts for air but that could only sustain them for so long. With one last hungry kiss, they finally parted and looked at each other with tremendous love.

"Someday," he started, breathing a little heavy. "I will make you mine."

She rubbed her thumbs over his cheeks.

"I'll be waiting."

They would continue to be tested; they would continue to fail at times. Though the future looked brighter regardless because they knew they would have each other to lean on. Today they took another step forward in their relationship.

**Whew, like I said that was the LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER HAD. My way of saying (hoping) thanks for sticking with me through long breaks and computer failures. PLEASE review. I don't want to have another chapter slip by without input. Thank yas!**

**Friday July 1****st**** at 7:40**


	25. It's Been A Long Day

**You guys deserve some shout-outs! I apologize prior if I forget anyone in these because all my notes on reviews are on my other computer, sadly. Also, these are for the most recent reviews because of this as well. If I miss you, let me say this. You guys are taking time out of your day to actually read what I write and let me know your thoughts. Guys, you just can't put a price on that. I appreciate every single one of you. You are all so encouraging and inspiring of my work and me as a writer. I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

**Crystale no otaku: **I'm so sorry for the mix-ups about the reviewing. That was my stupid fault because I messed up with the story note I posted. MY BAD! Anyway, I'm so glad that you let me know when you see mistakes in the story. Super happy you liked the previous chapter too. Seems everyone enjoyed it. And you have such kind words of encouragement for my work and as a writer and I can't thank you enough for that. You rock!

**Greyfaerie: **Thank you for your review and welcome to the story! I was sad to see you didn't have an account so I couldn't welcome you and thank you personally so I hope that this will do. I was so happy to hear that you were in suspense if he would propose to her or not. YEAH HE DID! Haha.

**Red: **Thank you for your reviews and welcome to the story! Like Greyfaerie I saw you also didn't have an account so at least I can thank you here and hopefully you will see this! Thank you for taking time for this story!

**Gamegurl2736: **I apologize for you not being able to review, totally not your fault, all the blame goes to me for that one! I was glad you enjoyed 24 so much. It is also my favorite so far! Thanks for reviewing! 

**Snoara: **"*sigh* love is in the aaaair~", haha yes it is! Hopefully it's all realistic fluff and love and not borderline cheesy. I'm trying to keep it balanced. Thank you for reviewing!

**Snookens5: **I applaud your constant reviews for this story! Thank you for sticking with me and also for letting me know when you see grammatical errors and typos. I love being kept in check! I was so super happy when you said you wanted to reread the whole thing over. I had a permanent smile on my face for a while :-). This is for everyone in response to your review: **VERGIL FANS- Expect more of your favorite half-demon! And dare I expose that he will play a HUGE CRUCIAL moment in the finale of this story? Well I did.** Haha, so hope that is news that you want to hear!

**ShatterTheHeavens: **"the wrath of angry viewers…that goes for me too *smiles evilly*" Hah! That was one of the best lines ever! I laughed quite hard for a while. And aren't we all glad that James isn't being an "a**" anymore! Thanks for reviewing!

**Sora'sLover98: **I loved your review so much! "WOOHOO WEDDING!" I don't know why, but I read that part over and over and for no reason at all! Actually you got me really excited for my own story! So nice job there Sora'sLover98! That was so silly awesome. :-).

**Actually I wrote this twice! Because the first time I did this chapter and responses to all of you…got ERASED. But you guys are worth it and deserved to know how I appreciate your time and efforts! I made sure to update soon, so after screaming and slamming my head down the length of a hallway I sat down and rewrote the chapter. Parts of it are actually better and some I know are lacking the quality I had in the first but I can't remember my exact wordage so I'm sorry for that. Hope this one will do. Will Dante survive this one? Jordan is pretty pissed! Thank you guys. Hope you enjoy. God bless!**

Claire did a sigh-assisted face palm. The sweet moment between her and Dante hadn't lasted long. While the audience was deeply moved at the interaction, the audience was also made up of the party's fathers. Sparda had made a comment along the lines of Dante and Claire getting hot and heavy and a few other comments plus some whistles. There also might have been a critiquing of Dante's way of kissing; implications that he was still a baby at it. Coming from anyone else, they were harmless. But Sparda knew he could easily piss off his son. It was a gift.

James, on the other hand, had to pull Dante aside for a moment after him and Sparda's quarrel. He had to make sure that Dante understood whom the girl he was implying marriage to was. He made sure to point out that it was a promise ring and that there were still barriers that would stand as firm as Fort Knox until they were actually married. Dante was a bit scared at the firm words and hold on his shoulder during the lecture, while Claire shook her head and tried to hold back blushes upon talking about physical love and actually marrying him. They were two completely different blushes for two completely different reasons.

And now Claire found herself in the living room waiting for Dante to get done talking to Andrew and Sparda. The group decided that it was best to do the moving as soon as they could. Andrew would accompany Claire's parents back to the house to get whatever they needed for the time being, while Dante would obviously accompany Claire. Sparda would stay with Eva.

"Ready," Dante said when he reached Claire.

"You sure you don't need a ride back?" James raised a brow to his daughter. "He seriously carries you?"

Eva had explained to Karen and James about how the two got around. Needless to say they were a bit skeptical. To prove a point, once they were outside, Dante swept his girlfriend up quickly.

"See," he turned to them and threw her up like nothing a few times. "She's not heavy to me at all."

Claire let out a few screams of surprise and hit the half-demon, who was laughing at her scared reaction.

"Jerk!"

He placed a quick kiss to her forehead before she swatted at him. He managed to dodge the first few attempts and then she just placed her hand open on his face and pushed it back a little.

"I see," Karen smiled, she was getting used to enjoying their playful interactions.

James was still a bit nervous of how Dante chose to transport his most precious cargo, but decided it must be fine since they have been doing it for a while. After the fight, James felt he could trust the boy a bit more because of the lengths he went to keep her safe.

Karen finally got James in their car after plenty of reassuring their daughter would be fine.

"We're gonna beat you there," Dante told them before they shut their door. "So don't be worried if we aren't there when you get home."

They stared.

"He's fast," Claire answered their silent question.

So, finally, everyone took off. It took a few trips for everything they felt they needed. Claire had decided it would be easier for her to just pack up her car and take it to their house instead of Dante carrying a few bags plus her. Dante followed her so close he was practically sitting on her car while she traveled back to his house. They unpacked her things in the room across from the bathroom and down the hall from Dante's. James had been too fast, the clever man, for them to catch as he dumped all this things in the other guest room between the lovers' rooms. Surely, he would be on guard to make sure that they kept to their rooms. Once the young couple caught on, Claire merely laughed a bit sadly, while Dante did his best to hide his anger and frustration. For the last bit of 'luggage' Dante felt it was only needed to carry Claire back and forth, no need for her car.

Inside her house she called for the last item on the moving checklist. Sure enough, since he was practically referred to as 'Claire's cat', Samson came out of hiding. He was a bit nervous when he saw Dante, and sniffed the air for any identifiers of who he was. He had seen him before, but not as a half demon.

"Hi Sammie," Claire smiled and picked up her buddy, "Ready to go?"

They had packed up everything remaining, and so Claire was quick to make a round of the house and lock everything up. In the process, she handed Samson to her boyfriend. It was comedic how Samson made no noises of content or the opposite, but merely stared unmoving up at the half-demon.

"He'll warm up to you," she said taking him back. "At least he didn't bite or hiss at you."

On a last thought, Claire wrapped her little one in a blanket to protect him from the wind and somewhat block his vision of their not-so-average means of travel. No doubt the moment they got moving he would start to squirm and freak out. Sure enough, he did as expected, but the blanket made it a ton easier for her to keep hold of him.

She deposited him in her 'new' room as Dante shut the door behind them to make sure he wouldn't run off afraid. The room seemed to be an exact clone of Dante's. The bed and other furniture were in the same spots. Seeing her looking about her curiously, Dante shot his glance out the window, "It's Vergil's room actually."

She looked at him in surprise, but also felt a little dumb. Of course he lived here at one point so it shouldn't have been so surprising. But at the same time she was interested because the two rooms were so similar.

"Why are they both…the same?" she dared to ask.

He started to shake his head a little before finally looking back at her, "He's my older brother. It's dumb when I think about it…and I hate to say it but…"

He trailed off a moment and his eyes rested upon the outside world again. For the briefest of moments, Claire caught a hint of sadness in his eyes, but it was gone just as quickly and he hid it in his voice, "I looked up to him back then."

Truly, the bond they had was no different than most brothers; the younger looking up to the older. She was pretty shocked he even admitted it. Maybe she would ask him about it later, but for now Claire decided a subject change was for the best.

"He seems to be taking it okay."

Samson had started exploring the moment she let him down, and now he was on the bed and looking at Claire as if asking for her to join him. She sat beside him and stroked his fur, getting a purr in response. After petting him a few more times, she picked him up and took him over to his litter box, food and water by the balcony so he knew where to go.

When Samson returned to the bed, Claire headed out the doors of the balcony of her room and looked distantly at the back yard. One thing she liked about the house was that every room had its own balcony. She loved them. He had silently taken his place behind her, his arms soon around her. She reached up and embraced his arms as he slightly squeezed her. She could hear and feel him bury his face in her hair and breathe her in.

She was as intoxicating as always, to the point where...

"Just checking if everything's here!"

…his senses were lessened a bit. At James' outburst, Dante was jolted away from his embrace on Claire. They both turned to see James giving a smile, but it was more so telling Dante that he wasn't too happy to see him in Claire's room with the door shut.

"Your dad wants you," he walked up to them. "Better get going."

Dante shuddered and reluctantly left the room.

"Dad," Claire started. "…you better be nice."

"I'm always nice."

Sparda and Andrew were back out on the patio, once again in discussion.

"What's up?" he asked when he reached them.

They both looked at him in confusion.

"…you needed me for something?" Dante said with confusion.

"I did?"

"James said…"

Oh…he was good. With realization dawning, his shoulders slumped and he shook his head. He wondered if James had **really **accepted him yet.

"What's the matter with you?" Andrew cocked a brow.

He straightened out, "Nothing."

"Well as always, you have great timing," his dad started. "Schedule time."

To anyone else, that statement was harmless and carried no weight. But to Dante, it sparked frustration and anger.

"Hey we don't like it anymore than you do," said Andrew. "But you know that it needs to be done."

"Just like the old days," Sparda smiled and teased, knowing it would further piss of his son.

And when Dante shot him a death glare, he merely grew his smile in victory.

"Whatever," the half-demon pushed it aside. "Before I give you any times I have to talk to Claire about it."

"Fine," Andrew started. "But don't take long. This can't wait anymore."

He left with an angry growl and headed back up to his room. Claire was sitting on the bed clutching her phone in silence. He managed to catch a look of uneasiness from her before she looked up at him when she heard him.

"What's wrong?"

She watched him a moment and then looked back at her phone.

"Jordan called."

He sat down beside her and waited for more information while his stomach fell.

"She left a voicemail…I didn't actually talk to her…Dante she's pissed."

_ 'When isn't she?' he thought._

"She headed over to my house to talk to me and when I wasn't there…well..."

"She figured you would be here," he finished.

She nodded mutely, "She's on her way with Sarah and Madison."

"Can you do me a favor?"

She blinked at the sudden comment.

"It may take some time and a lot of effort…but can you kill me?"

Regardless of the situation she actually burst out laughing and put her head to his shoulder. He cracked a small smile watching her.

"No…" she shook her head. "I won't."

"I'd rather die at your hands."

"Oh stop it," she shook her head. "Honestly they deserve an explanation. They are my best friends. And part of me is glad they are coming over here because I don't want them out there with demons without protection."

She had a point…like always. She took his hands in hers.

"We always get out of these things alive. One more couldn't hurt."

"Not inspiring me…" he shook his head.

"It's inevitable, Dear," she pulled him to his feet. "I'm not any more excited than you are. But we gotta do this."

He would do it for her. They trudged to the door; she embraced his arm on the way to hopefully reassure him it would be okay. He looked down at her with a loving smile. The confidence they were growing was immediately shattered when…

"**DEVIN!"**

He stopped cold and his heart might have for a moment as well. He looked down at her to see she possibly felt the same as he did; her face was slightly pale.

"And did I mention she left that voicemail about 10 minutes ago?"

He sighed in frustration. The beast was already inside his dwelling.

"Come on now," she patted his chest and forced a smile. "It's all gonna be fi—"

**"CLAIRE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"**

She froze on the spot. Not in all her years of knowing Jordan, had she ever remembered her being so mad…and they hadn't even seen her in person yet.

"Where's your confidence now?" he dared a tease her way.

She was still for a few moments before releasing her hug on his arm and pushing him back towards the room.

"I'm gonna meet her first. Then I'll bring out back to meet you…hopefully she'll blow off some steam before she reaches you."

"If I let you go alone that would be suicide! It's my fault you're even in these situations!" he started for her.

She raised a quick hand and stopped him.

"Like I regret it," she smiled.

In a flash she was gone before he could stop her. With great reluctance, he hopped his balcony and waited on the patio. The sun was just starting to set in the distance. He realized, then, how long the day had actually been. It was amazing how much had happened in the course of only 18 or so hours. A lot of people had discovered who he was, Karen accepted him, then the bit with James which finally led to his acceptance…he hoped, and before that he doubted Claire's love for him, which led to their relationship growing and him announcing his plans to marry her, the threat of Claire's life by an unknown foe, him, Sparda and Andrew having to go out and start demon slaying to protect people, and now they were going to confront Claire's three best friends with the truth.

He wondered if it was even possible to have done all that in one day, but they were now living proof of that fact. Well…he wondered how long he would be living. Back to the situation at hand he wondered if Claire had made contact with the monster yet. One thing was for sure. After this was done, he was going to look into whether or not Jordan was human or a demon herself.

**There you go. Hope it was good! Thanks again for astonishingly awesome reviews and readership. You can't buy reviewers like you guys. I feel so blessed ** **.**


	26. Why Claire?

**Computer is fixed but….yes you guessed it. Back to school! First week is over and golf isn't too crazy yet so I got this up. Thanks for more Story Alerts, Author Alerts, and Favorite Story adds! Woot. Thanks for reviews too! I am glad to know that this story is still going strong for you guys. Enjoy! Note that I might not be pushing these out as often as I would like.**

Eva, Sparda, and Andrew had no time to react. The moment they opened the door when there came a knock, was the moment a fuming teenage girl burst into their home. They could only stare as she ran all around the place, screaming this and that about killing and about there needing to be explanations. Shyly, Sarah and Madison slowly walked into the door.

"I'm sorry about her," Sarah started, looking at the three.

They only stared in continuing surprise and amusement as Jordan searched the place up and down.

**"CLAIRE LYNN SUMMERS!"**

"Seriously, Jordan?"

She whirled around to see Claire coming down the stairs and looking at her friend with slight disappointment. She wasted no time rushing up to her and grabbing her by her shoulders.

"What the hell is going on, Claire! Some secrets are understandable but this is just incredible."

Claire sighed as Jordan continued to talk without pause.

"Demons? **Freakin' demons!**"

"Jordan…"

"And then you did that whole super freakin' hero thing at the lake? Are you kidding me?"

"Jordan I want to explain..."

"And when were you planning to tell us!"

"You're not listening…"

"What about Devin? He went all power freaky just like you? Honestly…**WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"**

"If you stop I'll tell you!" Claire brought her arms up to grasp Jordan by her shoulders and shake her. "But I can't if you don't stop shouting at me," she sighed.

She brought her arms up and shook off Claire's grasp on her, "No. It's gonna take more than an explanation. This is some serious s**t Claire."

"Watch it," she pointed at her friend. "That's uncalled for."

Jordan seemed to take that comment a little hard and she glared at her friend a moment before looking up the stairs and pushing past her.

"That's annoying Claire."

"Where are you going?"

Claire loved her friends to death; she loved Jordan to death. But now she was trying very hard to maintain her composure. Everyone had their faults and weaknesses. Notably, Jordan's was her short fuse. Getting where she was going, Claire sighed and leaned against the railing.

"He's not up there."

Jordan halted almost immediately and whirled back around to face her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Then **where** is he?" she growled. "I'm gonna kill that bastard."

"And why is that?" Claire dared the question, folding her arms and giving Jordan a disapproving look.

By no means was Claire trying to get her friend more riled up than she already was. Each comment was an attempt to try and bring her to realistic terms. Honestly, Dante may have screwed up once, but that was already forgiven. This time, Jordan seemed to be pissed at him solely for the fact that he kept a secret from her. Claire wasn't hurt because of this and her friends weren't either. But Jordan seemed to want to kill Dante because he had shown he was something different. If that was the case, shouldn't Claire be getting Jordan's wrath just as much? She had shown she had powers too. Jordan wasn't being fair.

Back to Claire's comment, Jordan stalked down the steps and got into her face.

"This isn't time to be cute, Claire," her voice was low.

"I'm not being cute," she gently pushed her back. "I'm being realistic."

And then Jordan was still before her. Her eyes had gone from looking into Claire's, to staring past her ever so slightly. Claire didn't have time to question Jordan before she was sprinting past her. In a moments figuring, Claire realized she could see the patio from where they were standing. No doubt she saw Dante.

Jordan was now aware of the fact that Dante and Claire had powers. But it was apparent that she just wasn't quite used to them yet. The need for Claire to beat her friend to Dante called for a burst of her un-natural speed. In a flash, she shot past Jordan who just got outside. She paused after feeling the sudden gust of wind past her, to see Claire suddenly appear in front of Dante.

Claire's parents were also outside with Dante, though they were sitting on the patio and he was nervously pacing the yard. Claire was facing Jordan, her arms open in a preventive state. Dante had paused at the sudden appearance of his girlfriend. Only a moment later did he understand why she looked so defensive. She heard her half-demon audibly let out all the air from his lungs in one dragging groan.

"Hello Jordan," he practically sighed out in despair.

You would think that upon knowing he was half demon, or upon seeing them up close since seeing them tear through monsters, or the fact that they look entirely different from the one that you knew, or perhaps that it was your best friends boyfriend, that you would pause before them and just think for a moment. Or at least take it in. But no…not Jordan. She stalked right up to them, shoved Claire aside and nailed a punch straight to the cheek of the cause of her anger and frustrations.

"Jordan!" Claire exclaimed in anger.

The only part of Dante that moved was his face as it was shot to the side slightly by the force of her punch. He would never tell her, but he hardly felt the blow. On the other hand, Jordan noticed that punching him felt like hitting drywall. She was holding her hand and rubbing the slightly throbbing knuckles while continuing to stare him down.

"Jordan I love you to death, but you're really making me mad right now," Claire proceeded to pull her friend back a few steps.

The moment Claire made an attempt to pull her back by her arm, she suddenly jerked her arm away and proceeded to push her back. In a flash, Dante grabbed Claire by her own arm and protectively placed his arms around her while staring at Jordan. Upon meeting his eyes, she shuddered. He was no longer looking at her without interest and with annoyance. His eyes were edged and his frown firm. He was not happy, but this was the first time she had the anger of someone with demonic blood pointed at her. Goosebumps rose on her skin and she subconsciously took a step back.

"Be mad at me," Dante started in a low voice, "hate me, beat the crap out of me. I don't care, Jordan. But don't ever lay a hurtful hand on Claire. She hasn't done anything wrong."

Claire was also taken aback at her boyfriend's change. She knew he was afraid of Jordan to an extent, and she never expected him to finally draw the line. She put her hands on his joined ones around her waist and gave them a quick squeeze.

"It's all right," she broke out of his embrace and gave him a smile.

"Jordan we promised we wouldn't accost them like this."

They turned to see that Sarah and Madison had finally emerged from the house and were coming down to them.

"No, you guys did," Jordan huffed and folded her arms. "I promised that I would get answers regardless."

"And we are **trying** to tell you," Claire started. "Let us?"

A miracle. She was silent for a moment and gave a reluctant nod, her eyes flying back to Dante's in expectation. But her brows were soon furrowed, along with Claire's parents and Madison's and Sarah's. Sparda and Eva had surfaced but were on the deck as they watched the scene unfold with Jordan and their son. Andrew was also beside them.

"Dante…" Claire turned to him to see he had also gone still, his eyes looking to the distance.

He looked at her and nodded once before turning back to Andrew and Sparda.

"Get the girls inside," Sparda ordered.

"What is up?" Jordan looked at Claire.

"I'm sorry Jordan, but I'll explain everything to you later. Please get inside!"

Madison and Sarah started to get scared and worried at the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Please get inside," Claire repeated, running up to them. "Demons are on their way."

"What?" Madison repeated with terror. "You mean like at the lake?"

Claire nodded and that was all it took for her to grab Sarah and start for the house. Claire watched them go in and laughed, "I wish everyone was that good a listener."

Speaking of which, she turned to Jordan who still hadn't moved.

"Jordan, come on!" Sarah called from the patio.

Jordan looked back at them, then at Claire and Dante. She made a sound of anger before reluctantly heading to the house.

"Look after them," Sparda shouted back to Andrew.

Claire started moving in the direction of the forest when Dante grabbed her arm and halted her.

"I can fight too," she said quickly.

"I know you can, but do you really think you should with them here?" he was referring to her friend but mostly her parents.

She bit her lip a moment and looked back to the forest as the demons got closer.

"But there's a lot. You could use the help."

He laughed, "Girl, do you remember who I am?"

She gave him an un-amused glare.

"And it's not like they've never seen me fight them," she thought of the first time at the lake.

"Claire?"

She turned back to her mom who was calling her.

"Aren't you coming inside?"

She looked back to see her boyfriend giving her an, 'I-told-you-so' smirk. She slumped her shoulders and started back for the house. She wanted to help, but she hated worrying her friends and family more. She knew Dante and Sparda would be okay, so she retired, albeit with reluctance, to the house.

The demons came in hoards, which seemed to be the popular way nowadays. They came from the sky and ground. Some looked like overgrown birds with uncharacteristically big teeth and claws, some looked like dragons and others seemed to be flying serpents. The ones from the grounds were the usual lot of four legged creatures such as dogs and lions. Following the smaller four legged beasts were larger monsters with clubs, large swords, and other sharp objects. They had no regards for their surroundings, and thus left half the forest standing as they stomped through and swung their weapons to clear the way as they pleased.

"Ah, damnit," Sparda scratched his head. "That's gonna take forever to replant."

Dante made a sound of annoyance.

"Damn things just have no regards for private property."

The joking atmosphere was sucked out in a second. Claire was now sharing the same feared expression, more confused than feared, as her family and friends. The same expression was on the three demons as well.

He jumped out of the forest and landed just past the frontlines, to which all the demons stopped at his appearance. His smirk was as arrogant as ever.

"Vergil," Claire whispered and pressed her hands to the glass of the sliding door. "What does he want this time?"

"Oh," Dante immediately summoned his sword to his hand. "Even better."

Claire noticed that Vergil was scanning the area quite intently, seeming to have no interest in Dante or Sparda before him.

"What's he looking for?"

Sarah walked up to Claire, "What?"

She shook her head, "Nothing."

"Who is that?" Madison asked.

"That's Dante's brother, Vergil."

"He has a brother?" Jordan said in a tone that stated she wasn't happy to hear of more secrets.

"Yeah," she turned back to them. "We really have a lot to talk about."

"Why does it look like they are about to fight?" Sarah asked.

She turned back to the window.

"Because they are. Vergil hates his family because his dad married a human. Even though he was born because of it, he considers his dad an idiot for loving an 'inferior being'," she air quoted.

They looked at her perplexed for how easily she said that.

"Just like that?" Madison started. "They want to kill each other and your not freaked out at all!"

"I know it's pretty shameful," she ran a hand through her hair. "Believe me I wish they didn't want to kill each other. I've tried to stop this so many times it's stupid. They won't listen and Vergil doesn't seem like he's willing to change. Sadly I'm so used to it I don't freak as much. But believe me I was just like you are now when I first learned about it."

Claire lowered her eyes a moment in thought.

_"He doesn't seem like he's willing to change…but I can never forget how different he was that time."_

She was referring to the time she tackled him and he whispered "please" and was suddenly completely out of character. Returning her attention outside, she noticed that they were still at a standstill and nobody had moved an inch. Glancing at Vergil, he was still scanning the area.

"Seriously," Claire shook her head. "What is he looking for?"

She opened the door and stepped out.

"No Claire!" Dante snapped around to look at her.

She stopped instantly, fearing she had done something wrong at how sharp his tone was. His eyes softened a bit but he kept his voice firm.

"I know what you're thinking, but please stay back. I can't concentrate unless I know your safe."

She bit her lip again at his words. She loved him enough to respect his wishes, so she stayed against her will. Looking back at Vergil she took a subconscious step back. He was smiling quite evilly and was no longer scanning the area. In fact his eyes were unmoving from hers. He waved a hand forward and the demonic army shot forth. Which in turn caused Dante and Sparda to launch forward.

It immediately became apparent that something was wrong when Dante and Sparda clashed swords with the leaders of the opposing battalion. Only the two they engaged were interested in them. The rest were on a collision path with none other than Claire. It was a realization that triggered so many more. Sparda was first to see this particular hoard of demons was much different than any other. A large amount was carrying weapons. The other half shot a variety of energy attacks that ranged from fire to lightening. Indeed, this was the perfect combination of demons to attack someone they couldn't physically touch.

"Dante!" Sparda turned to him quickly.

His son was already halfway there. He quickly swept her up just in time to dodge the energy attacks that actually destroyed half the patio area upon impact. Claire's parents and friends moved back in shock of the sudden destruction in front of them. She stared in amazement/unhappiness to see the damage. That wasn't going be a cheap repair.

"Dante!" she gave him a quick smack to his chest, "I was gonna deflect that!"

He looked at her in surprise, "Sorry for saving you!"

"Not what I me—ah!"

He landed quickly and swung his sword in a fast circle, slicing multiple demons in half. A second later, their blood shot up around them like fountains. Incidentally, Claire's whole front side got covered.

"That is disgusting!" she growled and attempted to shake herself off.

Another gasp of shock escaped her when Dante swept her up once more. She caught a glance to see that another concentration of fire and lightening destroyed the area she was previously at.

"I don't get this," he continued to land and jump continuously. "Why the hell are they after you!"

In her silence he caught a glance of her worried face. It was something they all wanted to know. In his worry for his girlfriend's safety, in having to constantly land and jump to avoid a painful combination of fire and lightening, in doubling the jumping with swinging his sword in his only free hand, he was caught off guard.

At some point in the event, Vergil decided he was done watching. Dante landed and was sideswiped by a hoard of demons that looked like a cross between a fox and a dragon, capable of flight. They slammed into his sword, which he barely placed between them at the last second. Consequently, his attention was cut in half. And that was just enough for Vergil to land beside him and snatch Claire from his grasp, all in a split second.

"Claire!"

He made a move to streak after his brother, but was taken advantage of again as the demons he was holding off pushed past his sword and consumed him from view.

"No!" she looked back at the demons that smothered Dante.

She immediately started to try and pry herself free of Vergil's vice grip.

"You're wasting your effort girl."

His voice was ice, and looking up at him, his eyes were twice as cold. He landed back where he was at the beginning of the fight. He took his free hand and drew his sword and poised it stretched out before him. Meanwhile, Sparda and Andrew, who left his post guarding the others, had gone to destroy the cluster of demons that had overtaken Dante. Once they could see him, Sparda pulled him out by his hand.

"Don't worry about me, damnit!" he angrily punched and kicked the smaller monsters holding on to him.

The demon trio brought their eyes to where Claire was captive; the show was well underway. At some point between Sparda and Andrew trying to get at Dante, Vergil had opened a portal to hell. Claire watched in horror as black billowing smoke rose, along with several dark and lurking things that reached out and around the edges. Upon closer inspection, she noticed they were hands. They clawed at the air and ground, as if waiting for anything they could drag down into despair.

"You say you love demons," Vergil spoke.

She was shocked back to reality. Her whole body was numb just watching the horrid display before her she forgot she was captive.

"Then let's see if you like where we come from."

Her eyes went wide.

"The hell I'm letting you do that!" Dante exploded forward with incredible force and speed.

With the smallest effort, Vergil raised his hand and shot an unseen but powerful force at Dante. It smacked him like a head-on collision with a semi. He shot back directly at Andrew and Sparda, as planned, and temporarily put them all out of commission for a moment. But a moment was all Vergil needed. He sheathed his sword before grabbing Claire with both hands and thrusting her forward. With tremendous effort, Dante was back on his feet and running with all he was worth. It was known all to soon to him that he was going to be too late.

**Please keep those reviews coming. And if I am able, please send some suggestions of more things you are liking and would like to see. Maybe I could accommodate some of them. Thanks guys!**


	27. At A Loss

**FINALLY! (that's what you're thinking right?) Well, me too. Right now I have touchdowned ( not a word) in Florida for our last tournament of the Fall season. That means more time for me when I get back! Which should translate to quicker updates. I hope so. Things are quieting down on my end. I would like to note that I wrote this chapter on my new MACBOOK PRO! I love these keys! I am actually typing faster on these than my old keyboard. That's a plus. **

**Hope you like the new installment. I had quite a few bouts of writer's block on this one. Happy to say we are getting closer to the really REALLY good stuff. As in the stuff I have been itching to get out the moment I started writing this fanfic. Stay with me folks! You guys are great Thanks for the reviews!**

The feeling of terror growing in her stomach gripped her entire character. The sight of the gaping abyss slowly coming closer to her was driving her senses wild. She forgot how to breathe or even move. If she were able to talk, she would have been screaming, she was sure.

The morbid slithering hands that clawed at the ground from within the void started to reach upward at her, eagerly anticipating dragging her down into the darkness.

Vergil continued to sport a dangerous and dark smile, Dante pushed with all he had to get there. Even though he knew he wasn't going to get there in time, he was in an adrenaline-powered denial. When she did get pulled down into hell, he was going to be sure he went with her before the portal closed.

Because they couldn't hear anything from inside the house, Claire's friends and parents didn't know that it was a gateway to hell. But they could tell that whatever she was about to be pulled down into wasn't good. In fact, just looking at the portal and Claire falling was causing most of them to be scared to the point of tears. Jordan was subconsciously hoping that Dante got to Claire before it was too late.

The apparent slow-motion show suddenly took a drastic change of events. Vergil's evil smile was immediately replaced with a hung jaw of question and slightly widened eyes. Dante came to an immediate halt.

There came a bright flash of light from beneath Claire before she stopped falling and was now hovering above the gateway. The light stayed underneath her, and it looked like she was floating above a straight wall of light.

The energy looked exactly like her infamous kind, and it behaved like it as well. The arms that were reaching up to her started to shrivel back and dissolve into particles of black dust. The portal then started to shrink until the ground had sealed up completely, wherein the energy beneath her brought her slowly to the ground before fading out.

Everyone was speechless, especially Claire, who was trying to put all the events together. One second she was facing a first-hand experience into the depths of hell, and the next she was on the ground with no trace of such an event. In fact, everyone had a million questions they wanted to ask, but Vergil beat them to it.

**"What the hell are you!" **he exclaimed slowly.

It was a rhetorical question from the half-demon, which then shot towards the girl and managed to take her to the ground by her neck. Her eyes shut from the pain and she brought her hands up to try and pry his off. Seconds later, he was hastily thrown from her by Dante, who was more than pissed that he allowed her to get hurt.

While the brothers went after each other, Sparda was beside Claire's side to assess she was okay. She was coughing hard, never had she experienced such a vice grip as Vergil's, and on such a sensitive area as her neck. Looking at her neck, Sparda saw that Vergil had actually managed to draw blood at points where his nails dug into her flesh.

Claire couldn't sit idly by for long, as somewhere during his fresh confrontation with Dante, Vergil had commanded the remaining demons pursue Claire's life once more. Sparda quickly swept her up, in conjunction with Dante's quick demand he do so. He decided it was best to distance her from the scene and hopefully drag the hoard of monsters away with him as well. Andrew would be left to help the others if need be.

Both half-demons were upset to see Claire being taken away; Dante because he was uneasy not being able to keep an eye on her, and Vergil because she was now out of his grasp and getting further away.

"We can't leave everyone behind," Claire looked up at Sparda as he took her from the scene with long, quick, leaps.

"You can't be here right now," he responded, casting a momentary look behind him. "God knows why they are after you…and Andrew will look after your friends and parents. Just trust me on this one."

She gave a huff of annoyance of the whole situation before adjusting herself in his carry.

"Well I'm not gonna be useless!"

She reached her arm past his side as she bent her head back as well and concentrated a shot to their pursuers. The attack was pretty substantial, and instantly killed the first half of the army. Actually the only ones to make it through the blast were the ones that got out of its way in time. Sparda looked behind him, then at her in amazement.

"You make it look so easy," he shook his head. "Think you could do it a few more times?"

"My pleasure," she reached around again and delivered another blast.

It had the same effect, to which another large chunk was destroyed again, leaving just a few dozen behind. Collecting herself quickly, Claire delivered one final blast of energy to finish them off completely. Sparda skidded to a stop and let out a quick laugh.

"You make us look like we are going about it the wrong way," he slowly put her down. "Thanks."

Claire laughed at the comment at first before feeling lightheaded and dropping to the ground.

"Whoa there," Sparda quickly dropped down and held her by her shoulders, "You okay?"

She gave him a reassuring smile and nod, "Yeah, that was just a lot of energy in such a short time. I need a minute."

He let himself smile, knowing it was just that.

"Well when you're ready we should go back. No doubt I'm gonna get some lip service from Dante for taking you out of his sight."

He laughed a little at the statement as he scanned the area seeing if any demons were left, just to be sure. His slow scan was abruptly stopped when his eyes fell upon a figure not too far from them. What struck him immediately were two things. The figure was a human, though Sparda could clearly sense he was a demon like himself. Second, the demon king couldn't shake the feeling that he knew him.

By chance, he looked down to see that Claire was rigid. Her eyes were as wide as he had seen them, her jaw was slightly slack, sweat was slowly riding her temple, and she was hardly breathing which was opposite to be expected from all the energy she just used.

And then it seemed that whatever feeling she was receiving from the mystery man, he got as well. It was unpleasant, made his hair stand up. And that was saying something. For Sparda to feel even the slightest bit intimidated was almost foreign to him. Not waiting for them to say or do anything upon discovering his presence, the man slowly started walking towards them.

"Sparda," Claire suddenly came out of her stunned-to-silence-spell. "…t-that's the guy that—"

"He knows exactly who I am…don't you Sparda."

It wasn't a question. And upon hearing his voice and having him stop close enough to really see his face, it was the demon king's turn to wear an expression of shock.

"Sanctus…"

The priest-appearance old man bore a wicked grin, "I would have been hurt to not be remembered by the great dark knight."

"I killed you," Sparda started, now wearing a solemn countenance.

"So you thought," he said simply.

Though he appeared to be calm in the situation, Claire couldn't help but catch the subtle undercurrent of anger in his latest reply. Looking back to him, she could almost feel the tension he was giving off. But more importantly…

"You know him?" she asked, surprised at how shaky her voice was to her own ears.

Her body was trembling even if she wasn't aware at first. Just being back in the demon's presence was enough.

"He's the one?"

Watching Sparda become more serious than she had seen him in a while, or possibly ever, she didn't respond right away. And when she did all she could do was give a barely audible affirmation.

The situation continued to move at paces far past Claire's readiness to comprehend. All in a second, Sparda summoned his sword, shot past her, and clashed swords with the man called Sanctus, who had equally fast summoned his own blade. More notable was the clash. The instant the demons touched steel, there was a powerful current of energy. It appeared like lightening colliding with fire, and it acted like a bomb. Claire was flown from her position on the ground a good twenty or so feet. She rolled a few times before coming to a very pained stop.

"Claire, get out of here!" Sparda said through clenched teeth as he tried to push back Sanctus.

She wearily heard the command as she attempted to stop her world from spinning. She sat up with tremendous effort and held her head, trying to focus her eyes on anything she could.

The demons pushed off each other before just as quickly clashing again. Claire was far enough away that the energy felt like a quick gust of wind this time, but the sound was loud enough to deafen her momentarily. She was starting to get a headache, and doubled with the pain all over her body, she fell back to her elbows and cast a dizzy glance at the fighting duo.

She knew that Sparda was strong. But this fight showed her she didn't know the extent of his powers. And never before had she ever imagined such force could be unleashed with a mere clashing of swords. She noticed that ever so often, he would turn his head in her direction and shout something, probably a repeat of her to get out of there, but her ears were still ringing.

"Sorry about this Claire!"

The shout she didn't hear, but she felt the context of the word. Sparda extended his arm in her direction and shot an abrupt current of energy her way. It lifted her up like paper in the wind and casted her even further away. He tried to control her landing the best he could, but was greatly preoccupied trying to hold back Sanctus. Consequently, she landed just as harshly as she had before. Every pain was magnified this time, and she found that just breathing caused her more pain. Each nerve ending in her body was throbbing. She rolled over onto her stomach, turning her head to face the battle, as she tried to relax the tension in her body that was adding to the stressing pain.

Sparda was losing the fight. Every attempt to push back the force of his opponent he met with equal and passing force. He was in a one step forward and two steps back situation.

It took a while for Claire to gather herself enough to realize this, but she finally got it. With the notice, she tried to will her body up to help.

"I'm curious," Sparda growled.

The duo broke for a moment, and it appeared that only Sparda was having a hard time catching his breath. Sanctus gave a grin, at first, in response to the comment and the fact that the dark knight was showing signs of fatigue.

"You've grown soft…weak even…since the last time we crossed paths Sparda. You continue to be a disgrace to your kind."

"Well pardon me if I don't take that too personally coming from someone who should be dead," he raised his sword up and laid it across his shoulder. "So perhaps you can enlighten me as to why you aren't."

Sanctus showed he felt he didn't owe him an explanation when he shot at him again. The initial strike was too fast, this time, for Sparda to react. Sanctus' blade pierced below his right the flesh below his right shoulder like it was butter. He leaped with the attack, and took the demon king to the ground, piercing the ground as well, pinning him.

Claire's eyes widened in shock and she shot up, despite her body screaming in protest. Continuing to surprise herself, she actually made it on her feet, taking slow and stumbling steps towards them.

"I told you to get out of here—!"

With a mere flick of his wrist, Sanctus caused disaster. Unseen and unexpected, Claire was suddenly pierced. It looked like a gunshot the way it suddenly blast through the bottom right near her stomach and shot out her back at the same spot. Sparda screamed out her name, she immediately coughed up blood, and Sanctus merely gave a crooked grin at his handiwork.

She was forced backwards from the attack, hitting the ground once again with another terrible thud that caused her to spit up more blood. Shocked at the sudden, yet seemingly effortless on his part, gruesome attack, Sparda began to struggle against being pinned to help Claire.

"Damnit Sanctus!" he grunted as his foe pushed the sword down through him harder, moving it around to widen the cut. "Why the hell are you after Claire? She's got nothing to do with you and me!"

The demon laughed as he cast a glance of ire her way, "You've grown stupid too…no matter."

He summoned another sword to his free hand from the earth and drove it below his other shoulder.

"Sorry to disappoint you," he opened his hand down at the demon king, "but I'm mainly concerned with that girl."

In an instant, Sanctus had summoned dozens of spikes from the ground to pierce Sparda through various parts of his body, and it was his turn to cough up quite a considerable amount of blood.

Summoning yet another sword to him, Sanctus suspended it above and parallel to Sparda's neck, ready to deliver the final blow via beheading.

"I was no match for you last time," he started. "Amazing how much the tables have turned."

It was the most helpless Sparda had ever remembered feeling. One moment he was carrying Claire away to safety, the next he was watching her die while he himself was about to die. Wasting no more effort on words, he brought the sword down swiftly, only to blanch in shock when it hit an invisible wall. On impact, he noticed that it the impact appeared to create yellow sparks.

Sparda coughed up more blood, but this time it was in shock. Following his gaze, Sanctus saw that Claire was now on her knees, eyes focused ahead of her but they seemed foggy. She looked possessed, the way her hair and clothes were flowing. In anger, Sanctus shot after her, and Sparda could only helplessly cry out to stop him.

There was no warning, or movement from Claire, when he was suddenly shot down with such a force that he created a crater.

"Wretched girl!" he spat, wobbling to get on his feet. "You've caused me enough trouble!"

He moved so fast he disappeared, only to be immediately stopped before he could get to Claire. She had slowly rose her hand up, still wearing no emotions in her eyes or face, and stopped him, it seemed. Sparda could only look on with a million questions as this new power came forth from Claire. Just as easily as Sanctus was controlling the situation earlier, she seemed to be taking that role now. And she was making it seem even easier than he had.

She motioned her arm to the side and Sanctus went flying. Dropping her arm, he was slammed into the ground once more. Sparda waited for him to surface again, only to see that he was gone this time. A quick escape just like last time.

Looking back at Claire, her glow was fading as she lifelessly relaxed her whole body, arms falling to her sides. When the light left her completely, she fell back to the ground. He struggled to pry himself from his pinned state as he called out to her for an answer that she was still with him. Ignoring the pain that throbbed all over his body from breaking off the spikes and pulling out the swords, he made his way over to her and dropped beside her.

Her eyes slightly lidded, and her breathing was somewhat erratic.

"Claire!" he put his hand on her shoulder. "Claire, you with me? What the hell was that?"

Her eyes rose to meet his and for a moment she cast him a look of confusion.

"Was that real?" she dropped her eyes from his, looking around her.

Remembering her critical injury, he slowly rolled her to her back to see there was only a hole in her shirt, but nothing else. Not even a scratch.

"The hell is going on!" he said in shock. "Seriously, Claire. I wish I knew what you were!"

"Sparda are you okay—" she slowly tried to sit up, and he helped her. "I don't know how I—I can't…" she put her head in her hand and breathed.

She felt overwhelmingly exhausted, but even more so she was at a loss.

"How did I do that?" she looked up at him.

He stared a few good seconds in silence.

"What do you mean? I was just gonna ask you that!"

"I felt like my body was being controlled…all that power…just seemed to come from nowhere."

He studied her a few more moment before surprising her by pulling her to him in a tight hug. She tried to look up at him in question but his arms kept her firmly where she was.

"Sparda…what—"

"I don't know what the hell just happened…but I'm glad you're safe," he said hoarsely. "Whatever you did…you saved us both."

She was silenced by the slight tremble in his voice, never had she heard him sound so…scared. She brought up a heavy hand and put it on his back as her answer.

"We should go back…I wonder if Vergil and Dante are still…" Claire trailed off in a sigh. "Let's go."

He nodded and slowly brought her to her feet. She was able to stand on he own, but that was about it. Picking her up he swiftly began the trek back to the house. Claire examined the holes within her view that the spikes made on his body. He was quick to heal, and the only thing left behind was drying blood. Actually, she noted the moment she saw him get impaled she started to feel different. She felt like a tremendous force was swelling inside of her to the point of bursting out. And when he was about to die was when that force took over, and she felt like she no longer had control of herself. Recounting his concern when she seemingly came out of it, she frowned. She, too, would like to know what she was.

The instant they came into sight of the house they saw that everyone was gathered in the middle of the yard. The forest was pretty torn up, and many trees were snapped or uprooted. There were several places where the ground was broken up, she assumed, from the brothers' fight. Her eyes scanned to see the house was fine except for the places that the patio was destroyed when the demons were after her.

Sparda landed not far from everyone. The moment she was put down, she saw Dante sprinting towards her. She barely had time to open her arms to him. The force he embraced her momentarily left her breathless.

"Dante," she managed to breath out after a moment.

"I was so worried," he spoke a mixture of anger and fear. "You kept going in and out of my senses…"

Claire was able to focus on the comfort of being in his embrace a few moments longer before her fatigue set in again and her legs slowly gave out. He felt her slowly getting heavier to hold up and pulled back in confusion as he slowly lowered her down.

"Claire?"

"We have a lot to talk about," Sparda started.

Attention was finally brought back to the demon. Upon noticing his beaten and ragged appearance, Eva rushed up to him while everyone voiced question of what happened.

"I'm fine," he gave her a weary smile.

He wrapped a reassuring arm around her and looked back at Claire.

"We have a lot to talk about."

She stared back at him with understanding and nodded subtly before pressing herself closer to Dante. He noticed the tense atmosphere between the two and searched his father's face for answers.

"What the hell happened between you two?" his voice was cautious.

"Claire I know you're tired…"

"It's okay," came her soft response. "They need to know…we have to figure out what's going on."

The suspense, at this point, was both killing and pissing Dante off. He had gathered that something pretty drastic had happened to his dad and girlfriend in the short time they were gone. Whatever it was, it caused his dad to be more serious than he could remember, and also looking like he got pretty beat up, plus Claire was so tired she couldn't stand on her own.

"**What the hell happened?**" he growled out again, eyes piercing his dad's.

"Don't get mad at him," Claire gripped his shirt tighter. "There's a lot going on we don't know how to explain."

He rubbed her back at her comment but continued to glare daggers at Sparda. The demon brushed his son's attitude aside a moment.

"Claire I know you're tired…but I need your help with this. We've waited long enough."

She waited for him to continue, they all did.

"We have a lot of work to do."

**Oooo, Claire continues to shock us all. What IS she? Read and review por favor! Thanks everyone!**

10/21/11 Midnight


	28. Regroup and Rethink

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!...that was a week ago…I know…I'm so late for updating this. My break hasn't been as carefree as I would have liked. It seems that chaos likes to attack in my downtimes. **

**I don't even know if I've mentioned this yet, so sorry if I have. I am planning on finishing my novel this year, so that will take precedence over this story. But it's nice to have this to work on because I do get tired of doing just one thing. I've been switching back and forth between these. Also, I have a requested Little Mermaid story I am juggling as well. **

**Anyway, the ending to this chapter was not supposed to be the initial ending. I had this and the next chapter I am still writing as one but I cut it in half to get SOMETHING out there to you guys. So if it ends odd and starts odd on the next chapter, keep that in mind. Hope you like it!**

"Claire what the hell happened to you?"

Before the half-demon could get an answer, he had turned on his heels and stalked up to his dad.

"**What**…**happened**," he grabbed his neck collar, speaking slowly with emphasis.

Surprising Claire and his son, Sparda actually looked away with a flash of regret in his eyes. Instead of annoyingly prying his son's hands off his shirt collar he apologized.

"You have every right to hate me right now…I wasn't able to protect her like I should have."

Claire shook her head quickly to speak but Sparda cut her off, "In fact if it weren't for Claire…we'd both be dead."

In shock of the sentence, Dante's grip slackened but he continued to hold his father's shirt. He turned back to Claire with an expression asking a million questions. She gave him a terribly sad smile, "Please don't be mad…"

She ducked her head a moment and he watched her carefully. She put her hand to her forehead, shaking it slowly as if having an internal debate with herself. Dante finally returned to her side.

"Hey," he rubbed her back. "I'm not mad at you…"

She shook her head and looked up at him, reaching up and flicking his nose with a sigh, "I don't want you to be mad at your dad either, you idiot."

He blinked at her blunt statement but let it pass when she sighed again and let her face fall forward against his chest.

"Claire…I know you're tired," Sparda started.

She cast weary eyes up at him.

"…we all are. But before we can call it a day, I need your help."

She nodded and started to get to her feet with Dante's help. He was surprised how quickly she complied with the request. He was expecting some resistance.

"Actually I need both of you too," he looked at Andrew and his son. "Because it's time to put up a barrier and evacuate this town."

"What?" his audience gasped.

"My theory is this. There are very few who can open the gateway. Dante, myself and Virgil can…"

He trailed off and looked at Andrew, "And Sanctus."

"Sanctus?" Andrew grew livid. "…you can't be serious…"

He nodded, "He's back."

"You killed him…"

"I know…I thought so too. But he is very much alive. That's who we just barely escaped from."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on," Jordan looked at Sparda like he had three heads. "Did you just say evacuate the town?"

From the silence, and the expressions on mostly everyone's face, it was evident that they were all wondering if they had heard that correctly.

"Old man…" Dante's voice held and edge.

The father and son latched eyes a moment and Claire could tell there was a serious conversation being portrayed through their gazes alone. At one point, Dante's grip on her increased, to which she cast a questioning gaze up at him. Sparda's reaction came as a laugh.

"Don't worry Son…she's not going anywhere."

"Good 'cause she can't," his grip slackened.

"What?" Claire interjected.

Based off Dante's grip tightening, she could only assume the 'she' was her.

"We'll explain later," Sparda said quickly, casting a glance over to Andrew.

Andrew nodded and looked at Dante, who growled in response.

"Fine," he started to get up, taking Claire with him. "Let's just get this over with…damn this day sucks."

"I'd like to know what's going on now," Claire said with some annoyance of the secrecy between the demons.

Dante drew her close and placed a kiss to her forehead, "For once my old man is right…we'll have to talk later."

At the frown she gave him, he laughed and gave her a quick squeeze, "You'll be fine."

Sparda and Andrew had gone up to Claire's friends and parents.

"The situation has come to a point we didn't anticipate," the Sparda started. "It's one of those 'drastic times call for drastic measures' sort of thing."

"It's time to stop messing around. No more kid games," Andrew continued. "It's time for all of you to leave."

Sparda threw his friend a disapproving expression, he was hoping to be a little less blunt about it…but that was Andrew.

"What do you mean leave?" they looked at each other.

"We are going to evacuate this town and then, with your help," he looked at Claire. "…we are going to seal off this town and keep the demons in."

Claire's parents went to speak their disapproval but Andrew cut them off, "The portal can't be opened in more than one place at a time, thankfully. We have reason to believe that Claire has become the one thing they desire."

The comment weighed heaviest with Claire's parents. Claire, herself, was not fazed anymore. It had become apparent with all the attempts to take her life that she was the bane of the demon world's existence. However, they weren't sure why yet, and that was becoming more and more stressful to all of them.

"So if we keep Claire here, then we believe that Sanctus and Vergil will stay here as well…"

"Are you saying—"

"**And**," Sparda continued their cut-off session, this time with James. "We believe that if we infuse this barrier with Claire's powers, the demons won't be able to get out. And that is what we need to do right now, we absolutely **have** to control where these demons are able to go or innocent people are going to die."

The ending stuck a deep chord with all of them, and for once they were silent.

"I'm all for helping you," Claire started. "…but do you really think I can create a barrier that strong?"

"All this is speculation at this point," Andrew explained. "But there is definitely no hurt in trying. We've all been made aware of how devastating you are to demons, Claire. So who's to say that if we put your power in a barrier it's going to be any less so."

"Can I bring us back to the fact that you said you wanted to evacuate the town?" Jordan said in exasperation. "You can't be serious…"

"Yeah about that," Sparda started. "…along with evacuating the town we mean that w are going to put up a barrier around all of West Eden…and we want you guys to evacuate too."

His eyes scanned across Claire's friends to her parents.

"…no way," James shook his head. "…and leave Claire here? You're kidding," he raised his voice. "You can't expect me to go along with that!"

"I hate to be blunt, but everywhere Claire is, then that's were the danger is. She's a walking target," said Andrew.

Claire bit her lip with a little regret that she was now becoming quite a problem for everyone.

"I'm sorr—"

With his lightening speed, Dante bent down and stopped her statement with a quick but firm kiss. She looked up at him in question with a slightly flushed face.

"Don't you dare apologize for that," his voice was gentle but his eyes portrayed his seriousness.

"He's right, Claire," Sparda cast her a smile. "You can't help it…please don't think any of us are mad at you."

Her eyes moved to her mom and dad. They were looking at each other in such a way, that there seemed to be a cloud of tension around them. Their eyes were portraying a conversation that she could not read, but she knew that it wasn't a dialogue of high spirits. Her father broke the silence by asking her what she thought. Claire could only guess they were discussing whether or not they would evacuate.

"No offense, but we don't have time for you to think about this for long…" Andrew started. "…Sparda we should evacuate the town first then let them make their decision."

"Good idea."

The demon king was still a moment before he cast his glance up to the sky, as if he was searching for a sign or an answer. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh before turning back to everyone.

"Dante, Andrew," he started. "No turning back now."

"So how did you want to do this?" his son asked the question that was on quite a few people's minds.

"Well we need to scare people out of their minds," he actually smirked and held back a laugh at his comment. "And I think that you and I are perfect for that," he put his arm around Andrew who gave a huff.

"You're a hell of a lot more scarier than I am in your true form."

"True…form?" Sarah tilted her head in question. "…what does that mean?"

"Whatever you're planning," Claire started with concern, "please don't do what I think you are gonna do here."

The three demons looked at her with expressions asking her to elaborate. She sighed.

"Something tells me you two are gonna go full demon on us and then terrorize everyone out of town…cause you're too freakin' blunt for your own good," she said monotonously and stared at them with an expression of disapproval.

"Well she's got us down pretty good my friend," Sparda patted Andrew on the back.

"Now you two just wait a second," Claire put her hands on her hips. "…at least don't transform in front of them," she nodded her head towards the innocent people behind her.

Her parent's were staring at their daughter in question of what she knew was going to happen, while her three friends stared at the two demons in wonder. The wheels of their minds were turning ever since they heard 'true form.'

"They know all about us at this point," Andrew shrugged. "So what's the problem?"

"Andrew…you are too uncivil for your own good," Claire face palmed and shook her head, "Idiot."

The demon blinked at her in silence of her accusation while Sparda snickered beside him like a little kid. Dante was also holding back a few laughs.

"I knew you were a demon before I met you," she continued, eyeing Sparda now. "But I was scared to death when I saw you in your true form," Claire pointed to him. "You're quite terrifying…"

Sparda then fell silent like his friend did when the accusations were directed his way. He put his hands up as to say he was not.

"That is true…you are the demon king, Honey," Eva chimed in from behind them. "…unless they want to see it?" she turned to them in question.

"No way!" Claire said it again. "It would scar them for life."

At this Sparda gave another laugh and headed over to her, taking her hands in his.

"How could you say such hurtful words, Claire," he cooed. "Don't you agree that I'm rather handsome?"

Her mouth fell a moment as a blush graced her features. In a flash, Dante now had hold of both her hands after pushing his dad back with a low growl.

"Really Sparda?" Andrew shook his head at his friend. "Not the time."

The demon king laughed before slowly falling back to a serious demeanor, "Alright. Let's do this."

"Not here!" Claire shouted again. "Is anyone listening to me?"

"Is anyone going to explain what they're gonna do?" asked Madison.

"Quite simple," Andrew replied. "We have to scare the town so bad they'll all want to evacuate."

"Quite simple," Claire mocked his words with a shake of her head. "Gosh I wanna hit you guys right now," she hid her face in her hand.

"Now now," Dante laughed at how frustrated his girlfriend was getting. He put his arm around her and drew her close, "Nice kitty."

"Idiot," she mumbled into her hand.

He flashed a smile and looked at his dad and friend, "Get to it."

They both nodded before leaping off and out of sight. They watched them leave, each with a different idea of how the two were going to go about the evacuation. Claire slowly turned her head back into Dante's chest, as he still had her drawn close.

Ever since the mention of Sparda and Andrew going into their full demon forms, Claire was plagued by thoughts from the past. She reached up and slightly tugged at Dante's shirt. He looked down and stared. She was meeting his eyes with a magnitude of emotions that made his heart skip and ache at the same time. The arm he had around her started to rub her back while his other arm reached up to envelope her fully to him.

"Claire…?"

"You're not…gonna go full demon too are you?" her voice was so soft and almost inaudible.

His mind immediately started to connect to the thoughts he assumed she was having, based from her question. No doubt she was troubled from the time his human side almost left him completely, where he came close to killing the girl he loved. That week was possibly the most emotionally taxing ones the couple had been through. Dante recalled the feelings he endured from the moment he broke up with her. Feelings that almost consumed him; almost destroyed him.

"I can't…promise you that right now," he said softly.

His answer shocked her to silence. He put his forehead to hers and breathed out a sigh. She noticed his sigh was shaky, which drew her to notice that he was slightly shaking as well.

"That is a part of me…and you know that," he pulled back to look at her.

The couples quiet conversation and gestures drew their friends and family's attention. But they were too drawn into each other to care or notice.

"Only you can bring that out of me…when I saw you so close to death that time I just…"

He trailed off a moment and brought a shaky hand up to Claire's face. He gently stroked her cheek as he searched her eyes, "I just lost it."

She closed her hers and brought a hand up to cover his in reassurance. But after a moment of just looking at him, seeing him so fragile as he looked at her, she became slightly overwhelmed. Her eyes started to water but she tried to blink the tears back.

"Come on, Claire," he smiled despite himself. "No tears now, okay?"

Knowing that they were going to come regardless of what he said, she buried her face into his chest.

"Do you wanna lie down for a while? Until they need you for the barrier?"

"What's wrong?" James asked, worried how his daughter was acting.

"Yeah you okay?" Jordan added.

"Come on…let's go," Dante soothed. "You need to be at full strength when you help with the barrier anyway. Lying down for a while is a good idea."

She smiled, almost weakly, up at him. For the rest of them, hearing Dante mention lying down seemed to bring them to realization how long the day was on all of them. For Dante and Claire, it was definitely the longest day of their lives. They realized this earlier, but now they were reminded again. The sun was gone now, and they were left with its fading afterglow, and stars were starting to decorate the twilight.

They followed the couple into the house. At one point, Dante lifted Claire up with ease and held her across his arms as he went up the stairs. Claire's parents knew that he was planning in staying with her in her room alone, but for once they agreed it was for the best. They had growing trust of the two after all they had seen that day, and knew right now they needed each other.

Dante opened the door to her room and headed over to her bed. He used his foot to push back the blankets, causing Claire to giggle as he hopped up and down in the process to move the sheet down the bed.

"Glad I can amuse you," he laughed.

He set her down gently before sitting down next to her, one arm on her other side as he leaned over her. Maybe it was finally being in bed, or it could be that he hadn't had the chance to notice, but Claire looked extremely exhausted at that point. The day had done its damage to her. Her dress was torn in various places, and some bloodstains were present, smudged with dirt. Taking that all in then, it was amazing to him how she was still the most beautiful person he would ever know.

"Dante…?"

She snapped him from his reverie; apparently he had been staring long because of the look of worry she gave him. He smiled and put a face to her cheek, his thumb caressing it softly. He smiled at the cat-like way she moved her face into his hand with closed eyes.

"I love you, you silly, pretty thing," he said.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a heart-stopping, yet tired smile. Catching him off guard, she got up quickly and kissed him fully on the mouth, taking him back down with her. He smiled wider into the kiss, bringing one arm down to lift her head up into him to deepen it further. After a moment he realized how fatigued she really was, after her constant breaks for breath, plus she wasn't able to match his fervor. Lowering her back down, he released her and reached for the blankets. In a flash, the moment he found them, he was off her, pulling the blankets up to cover her, then back over her and caressing her cheek once more.

The sudden change of events and her position had her flushed a moment before looking at him with a lame expression.

"You move too fast sometimes you know…I can't keep up."

He sighed, "As much as I want to continue that with you, you are tired and need a nap."

She laughed before rolling over and burying her face into the pillow.

"Nap? It's night time…I should be going to bed."

"Well the situation says you can't call it a day just yet…so it's naptime for you."

He bent down and kissed her hair before getting up and starting to leave. She rolled over after feeling him leave and stopped him with his name.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere?" he said in question to her question.

She sat up and wore a genuinely sat expression as she patted the space beside her.

"You're not staying with me?"

She really knew how to melt him to a pile of goo. He turned back to the door first, which confused her, and locked it with a grin that made her blush.

"W-what are you…d-don't get any ideas," her face kept reddening. "I meant stay with me while I rest you perv."

"Oh…" he faked a fallen face.

Secretly, he knew that all she wanted was to have him stay with her. He was just locking the door so that they wouldn't be interrupted. And that got him wondering why Claire's parents, especially her dad, hadn't come up to check on them. He counted his blessings.

Seeing her flustered once more, he couldn't help but keep the joke going as long as he could. She was so dang cute to him when she was embarrassed, he couldn't resist the opportunities to tease her.

"So I can't take my shirt off?"

"You're really dumb," she put on a pouting face mixed with a tone lacking amusement.

"You're right…we've long since progressed past that point in our relationship…haven't we?" his voice finished low, laced with seduction.

He was now standing at the foot of the bed.

"So I should just take all my clothes off—"

"Dante Redgrave!" she screamed and threw a pillow at his head.

He batted it to the side with ease, still pouring on the tease.

"Or did you want to?"

She sat there, as red as a tomato and only getting redder by the second, silently growling at her perverted boyfriend. Without hesitation or care that she stuttered over her words, or that she was practically screaming out his name in protest, he reached down and swiftly removed his shirt. Confusing her more, he once again used his insane speed, and was hovering over her. What raised her temperature and heartbeat more was that he had his face buried in her neck, nipping and breathing against her soft skin. She went to bat him on the head and push him off, but realized that he had her arms pinned when she tried to move them.

"What if I told you I couldn't wait any longer…"

**Hope it was good? Please leave a review if you can .**

**Sunday 2:48 p.m.**


	29. Evacuation Silliness & Demon Perviness

**This was by far my FAVORITE chapter ever. At least in the terms of humor. I do hope that you guys enjoy the scenes between Claire and Dante in this one as much as I did. Sparda and Andrew have their moments as well. **

**I have to say I'm a bit scared, though. I only got 3 reviews for the last chapter? I can understand that it took a while for the update so I hope that you guys didn't leave!**

**Thank you so much to ****Snookens5**** and ****Gamegurl2736**** for always sending me a review to brighten my day! Since there were only 3 reviews you guys really kept me positive that someone was still enjoying this. And welcome to the story ****shelby****!**

****By the way I changed the summary. I thought it worked better now that the story has evolved along. Let me know if it works better for you? I thought it smart to include Vergil in it since there are a lot of Vergil fans reading this. Enjoy! (I start my final semester (hopefully) as a college student tomorrow….…AHHHHH!**

Her heart stopped at his deep words combined with the seduction once more. Her body froze and she forgot how to breathe. He felt her tense up tremendously, and for a moment he just stayed as he was.

"D—"

She wanted to say many things but words refused to form. After another tense moment passed, Dante slowly started to shake above her. She remained still in her confusion, wondering what was causing him to shake. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the sound of his laughter exploded into her ears. Next thing she saw, he was sitting up laughing so hard his eyes were tearing up.

"Oh my gosh you are too damn cute, Claire!"

_"Joking," she thought. "He was joking…just jok—"_

**"You jerk!"**

The magnitude of her outburst jerked him immediately from his laugh-attack. If her shout of absolute contempt didn't startle him, the power-aided punch she landed square to his face did.

Meanwhile, the devilish dynamic demon duo had gone to the city and were standing on the highest building, which happened to also be their destination near the end of their mission; the TV station. They were still in their human form as they scanned the lit streets over, just watching the people at the moment. They had their swords with them as well.

"Are you ever gonna tell me what happened with Sanctus?"

Sparda folded his arms with a goofy smile then stuck his tongue out, "You didn't say please."

Andrew stared at him a moment.

"….dumb***."

The demon king laughed, but it was short lived before he grew serious again.

"The thing is…I think what happened with Claire is more important to talk about."

"What do you mean?" he faced him.

"Honestly I have no idea what happened to her…again," he sighed. "She keeps amazing me."

"All of us," he corrected.

Sparda nodded, "There was a moment where Sanctus was actually going to kill me. I knew there was nothing I could do. Probably not a second before he delivered the fatal blow, Claire just exploded with energy."

"You're stronger than he is," Andrew started. "Or has old age finally started to kick you're a**?"

"Watch your language," he chided.

His friend gave a 'humph' and turned his head away, "Thanks, Claire."

"Hey now," he laughed. "She means well…and damn, she's really starting to rub off on me."

"You get side-tracked too easily," said Andrew. "Finish the story."

"I love you, Andy," he said cheekily.

Andrew thrust his sword at his longtime friend with annoyance. Sparda swiftly leapt out of the way and gracefully landed a few yards back.

"You seem to forget the situation we're in…"

"Now, now," he resumed his position by his friend's side. "Too much serious is no good. Just trying to add a bit of humor."

"You give your son crap all the time for having bad timing…I see where he gets it."

With one last chuckle, Sparda derived that his friend wasn't going to join in the joking.

"Fine, fine," he sighed and continued the story. "Sanctus managed to shoot a bolt of energy through her. It pierced her like a bullet. I though she was either close to death or there at that point."

And then before Sanctus could kill me, Claire suddenly changed. We both sense the difference in her energy. She was sitting up on her knees but she seemed very different."

"How so?"

"It was a bit scary, actually. The spike in her powers was very drastic, but what got me the most was that she looked like she wasn't in control of her actions."

"Like she suddenly awakened some hidden depths to her power," Andrew said with a distant look.

Sparda cast a glance to his friend, "You think so too, huh."

He nodded.

"It might interest you to know that Sanctus said his business was not with me but with Claire."

Andrew narrowed his eyes a moment.

"I don't know why that surprises me…after all we've seen. But I guess hearing Sanctus say that is pretty big."

"Claire seems to be the embodiment of something that destroys anything remotely demonic," Sparda started. "But at the same time why doesn't she have that same affect on us? And Vergil?"

"So the question is, does Sanctus know the answer to that and that's why he's trying to kill her? Or, is she just too dangerous to have alive for whatever he's planning?"

The two fell silent as they watched various people going about their nights. There was a woman running with two leashed dogs, casual traffic in and out of the various shops, and loungers in the nearby lit up park.

"They're gonna hate us…" Sparda trailed off.

"They're gonna owe us," Andrew corrected.

Now Sparda shook his head.

"They're gonna be too damn scared of us to thank us."

"Maybe later."

"Probably never."

They laughed and moved back from the ledge to the middle of the building's roof. If there was to be any subtleness to what they would do, it would be in transforming.

Dropping to one knee, they lowered their heads and let the flames of their demonic powers engulf them. The force of their change, as they knew would happen, started to shake the city. It was very subtle starting out, but would grow the more the duo got closer to completing their change.

The people started to catch on that something was wrong, that they were feeling a slight tremble beneath them.

When the demons surged forth into their final stages, the ground received a sharp charge. Everyone fell to the ground in the shock. It felt like the Earth suddenly jumped up at them. Screams of confusion started to be heard through the now deafening sound of rumbles. The scariest sound of all came from the two demons when they finished the change with mighty guttural roars that even outdid the sounds coming from the shrieks and quakes.

They stood back up as the flames died down and the smoke billowed away with the breeze. Sparda looked as he always did. He had two horns that curled slightly at their ends on his head. His black rough textured skin pulsed with power along his arms and legs. The wings on his back were down in their dormant position while his spiked tail curled around his torso, just below the two spikes on his upper hips. His glowing red eyes stuck out against the contrast of his dark color, as well as the tips of his horns, which just tinted a blood red to complete his form.

Andrew wasn't as tall as his friend. In his demon form, Sparda was a towering 7 feet tall and had about 4 inches on him. They both shared the dark skin texture but other than that Andrew was a different demon. His horns went opposite of Sparda's; they curved behind his head and went down about mid back. His tail curled around his torso as well, but had spikes all over it that could be retracted whenever he pleased, like he had them now. His eyes were a little bigger and glowed with a deep gold color. When they spoke, their voices had also changed to a much deeper tone.

"Been a while," Sparda looked his arms and body over.

"Not for me," Andrew growled. "Since you had me stay in hell to fight your fights because you came up here…"

"We'll talk later, right?" he motioned to the town.

The people were slowly getting up and looking around themselves for any damage. The ones who were up were running around and checking on the ones still down. The sounds of police sirens filled the air, seemingly from all over the city.

"So which one of us gets their 15 seconds of fame in front of the camera?" Andrew turned to him.

"I'm the most handsome," he laughed. "So don't you think it's only natural?"

Andrew just stared at him with a lame expression.

"Make it believable," he glared at him.

"Believable?" Sparda laughed. "Don't you think that just them seeing us is proof enough to get the hell out of dodge?"

Again, his friend just stared.

"You really are no fun," Sparda shook his head. "After you," he motioned with his hands.

Andrew leaped off the building and landed on the pavement hard enough to break it beneath him into a small crater. The sound echoed horribly off the walls of the surrounding buildings. Most of the people flinched at the sound before looking up to find the cause.

Then, Sparda leaped off and joined his friend the same way, breaking the ground beneath him. They both stood tall and waited for the bedlam. More eyes continued to latch on to them as silence loomed, only to be shattered like glass. All it took was the piercing scream of one woman to shoot the entire area into panic. The area shot to life as the once weary citizens became Olympic runners.

Andrew laughed, "This is fun."

Sparda slowly turned his head to look at his friend in amusement, "You're a sadist."

"I'm a demon, Dear," he commented. "Don't say you aren't getting a kick out of this too."

Andrew knew him well.

"You take that way I'll take this way?" Sparda motioned with his hand.

"Make it a race."

Sparda stared after the blunt response for a moment.

"What? To see who can terrorize their section of the city the fastest?"

His friend replied with a devious, mischievous, and downright evil smirk.

"You sure I'm the king of demons? You're one sick bastard."

He merely continued to smile without a word.

"Fine. It's a race. What's the prize?"

"Hundred bucks."

"How 'bout I get you a girlfriend if you w—"

Andrew took a swipe at him, which he dodged swiftly.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," he laughed. "Come on, Andy. Lighten up."

The silence and stare he received told him to drop it once more.

"All right. 100 bucks," Sparda agreed as they shook to seal the deal.

If there were any people nearby that weren't terrified for their lives, they would find the last couple minutes between the two quite humorous. While people continued to scream and run all around the area in peril, the two demons causing the trouble were laughing and joking amongst themselves like they were alone.

"Meet back here for your epic TV spot?" Andrew asked as he got into a form similar of someone at the starting line of a race.

"Sounds good to me," Sparda mirrored his actions.

"3…2…1—"

"GO AWAY!" a now beyond-annoyed Claire shouted to her perverted boyfriend.

She didn't stop at just giving him a good punch. She gave him quite a few. He was now lying against the bedside stand closest to the balcony, rubbing a bump on his head.

"Damn," he mumbled. "She actually managed to leave a bump this time."

"Are you still saying stupid perverted things?" she shouted beneath the blankets.

He glanced at her to see why she couldn't understand his comment. She had burrowed as far into the blankets as physically possible, so hearing was more than a bit muffled for her. Looking like a mummy, she had tucked each side under her for increased security after giving the half-demon his beat-up session. Safe to say there wasn't a part of her that wasn't at least a foot or so buried under fabric.

"I won't do anything else…I promise," he shouted so she could hear.

"You're actions betray you're words…idiot!" came her fiery response.

He let out a long and amused sigh, leaning his head back against the bedside stand.

"Someday," he said quieter so she couldn't hear him. "I'm gonna marry you."

He closed his eyes, and his perverted mind starting turning once more.

"And when I get you alone that night," he started to lace on the seduction in his voice, "I'm gonna slowly undress you…admiring and kissing every square inch of your perfect body…all mine…"

He opened his eyes and sent a casual glance her way. He choked. His estimate of how loud he could talk without her knowing was wrong on two levels. It would have been fine if he were just a little softer that she couldn't hear him at all. She could hear him mumbling, but that was all she thought he was doing. But when he kept going her curiosity had won and she shifted underneath her fabric coffin until her head was free. Thus her ears are on her head, thus she heard everything he said; at least the bit about undressing and kissing her body. Her eyes were wide in stupefied shock as her mouth hung agape. Her crimson shade was by far his favorite feature, and it was coming in full force. She had opened her mouth to speak, but ended up sputtering incoherent nonsense as she tried to bring her face temperature and heartbeat back down.

"I just thought you should know," he flashed a devilish smile despite his causal tone.

"You demon!" she screamed, burying herself once again. "You **stupid** demon pervert!"

"What's wrong?" he stood up and stretched out a bit. "You can do it to me to. We'd be married. My body is your body and your b—"

"**SHUT UP**! GAH!"

She squirmed beneath the sheets as she tried to bury herself permanently.

"Do you not want to wait?"

No response.

"Cause I think this opportunity is perfect for some hot…steamy…make-up se—"

"**I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"**

**-I still laugh when I re-read this. It really was a joy to write some humor in for a change. I'm starting to love bringing out more perversion with Dante and Claire. Hope you liked it!**

**Monday 9:25 p.m.**


	30. Perspectives

**This was my last semester, as I mentioned, so I've put writing aside to address all the fun things that come with graduating college. Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter 15 years ago (it seems) and for all the new Favorite Story adds and Story Alert adds! Hope you like the new chappie. **

Sparda found he didn't need to roar or destroy things to prove a point. All he needed was to show himself to the people. Needless to say, Andrew didn't have to worry about acting out either. There were a lot of things in common between the two. When it came to strength, Sparda obviously had the advantage, but when speed was concerned they were both pretty equal. To add to the list of similarities tonight, they both managed to attract the police at the same time.

Sparda managed to draw a much higher amount of officers. If he had known that, he would have thrown that in Andrew's face later. He stopped as their cars skidded to a stop all around him on a more busy intersection. The cars burst open and men flooded the street around him, making a complete circle with all their guns raised and ready for action.

Most of them were hiding behind their cars and one couldn't help but notice the look of pure terror plastered across all of their faces. Their eyes were saucers looking at the alien creature, which was just standing there returning their gazes. At first, he planned to just continue his 'rampage' and ignore the cops completely. However, with a glance to the side he saw some daring reporters take their positions and start filming and reporting.

He was impressed that they showed up so close to him, not to mention how the female reporter had her back to him while talking to the camera about what they knew of the situation. She was damn lucky he wasn't there to kill anyone.

_'Ignorance is bliss,' he mused._

Since, he assumed, the camera on him was reporting live to televisions, he had to make as hellish a scene as possible, within the confines of taking zero lives. He released a deafening cry that even hurt his throat. So surprise that all able bodies clasped their hands to their ears. Some were so startled they even dropped to their knees, and some officers dropped their guns with shock in the process.

He ran over and arbitrarily threw a car down the road where it smashed and did a few cartwheels before ending up on it's top, barely recognizable. The action caused the officers to run for their lives quite a ways away instead of shooting like they were ordered to.

Dante managed to piss her off quite a bit with that last comment. She had lunged at him from underneath the covers, striking a harsh blow to the left side of his head. He did the best he could to stop from breaking out through the wall. He managed to keep the wall in tact, but he crashed through his dresser. It snapped in half with as much ease as ripping a piece of paper. He had laid there, dumbfounded, and nursing a cut his head. Not only had she managed to throw him like a ragdoll and break his dresser, she broke skin too.

Eva rushed up the stairs to see what caused such a loud sound. When she opened the door to see her son lying in a pile of wood and scattered clothes, and Claire sitting on the bed with a raised fist but a look of shock, she blanched. Seeing her paled expression, Claire's feeling of guilt doubled.

Eva was one of the lowest-maintenance people Claire ever met in her life. Nothing ever seemed to really get her frustrated, stressed, angry, or pushy. She actually laughed when she heard the reasons behind the dresser and position of her son amongst its remains. Perhaps it wasn't hard to see she was that way, since she made it seem like marrying a demon was second nature.

Though the most shocking moment came when Dante realized the cut on his head wasn't healing right away…or at all. And that it was more painful than most blows he could remember. It shocked them all and only managed to slip Claire further into a guilty depression. They could only assume that Claire's unexplainable powers were to blame. It was no longer a mystery that she was a demons kryptonite. She had started to assume that she couldn't hurt Dante, which now she knew was a foolish mindset. Just knowing that she was the one to inflict a wound on him that actually caused him pain was starting to eat away at her.

Eva brought Claire a first aid kit so she could clean the laceration she gave her boyfriend. She was sitting on her knees on the bed. Her back to a pile of pillows while Dante laid his head to the side in her lap. He shot his eyes up at her to see she was still wearing a sad expression, he knew she was beating herself up on the inside.

"Don't you dare say you don't think I deserved that," he laughed, trying to break her dismay.

Her face only fell further, her eyes meeting his and her hands stopped their work a moment.

"Don't you dare say you don't think I overreacted," her eyes trailed over to the pile of busted lumber in the corner.

"It's fine," he chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

She shook her head with a sad sigh.

"No it's not…I shouldn't be that violent…"

"It's **fine**," he stressed. "I love you."

His hand reached up and around her working hands to cup her cheek tenderly. Her hands stopped again and she closed her eyes at his touch, but she still felt horrible.

"I know…and I love you, too."

She resumed cleaning up his cut by dabbing at the sides. It was the silliest thing that got her. She loved his hair; it was one of her favorite physical features of him. The platinum shine was brilliant and seemed to glow, even in the darkness. It was so unnatural yet it fit him so perfectly. Not to mention it was so soft it shamed the finest silks. Looking down at it and seeing it stained with blood around the cut, which didn't seem to come out no matter how much she tried to wash it out, really tugged at her heartstrings.

She blinked furiously as the tears started, and then threatened to fall. At the moment, Dante laid still as she tried to finish up with the cut, and was oblivious. She alternated hands that reached up to wipe at her eyes.

_"Gosh I'm stupid," she continued to belittle herself. "I overreact to everything."_

The cut had clotted enough to leave alone now, and all she cared about was trying to get the blood out of his perfect hair. No matter how much she patted and wiped at the strands, the surrounding bases of hair wouldn't go back to a pure white. It was like trying to get grape juice off a white shirt without putting it in the wash. She knew it was pointless at this point and that a shower was the only way to get it out, but she was letting her guilt run the show. And Claire Summers was a very stubborn girl.

Eventually, her hands left his head long enough for him to wonder what was wrong. Looking up, he was hit with the vision of Claire covering her face in her hands as she shook with silent sobs.

"Oh, Claire," he sighed with a small smile.

He sat up and got on his knees, fully facing her. Reaching up, he grasped her hands and moved them away from her face. Her eyes were shut tight, but the tears fell freely. When she opened them a moment to look at him, she saw him giving her such a lovely smile she shut them again with a few shakes of her head.

"I'm sorry," she started.

"It's just a little cut, Claire. Why are you crying so hard?" he laughed a little to lighten the atmosphere.

"It's just…your hair…"

She made a movement and he felt her try and tug her hands free but he kept hold of them.

"My hair?"

Her head lowered until he could only see the part in her hair, her head still shaking.

"I'm sorry."

He sighed again and shook his head at her. She was known for being stubborn and overreacting a lot, and it was one feature he enjoyed from her. She was adorable. But, when he knew that she was upset to this point, and with something about him, mixed with her guilt, it broke his heart.

"Hey," he said gently. "…look at me."

She shook her head and his smile grew.

"Come on now…"

More head shakes. Seeing she wasn't going to budge, he lifted her up from under her arms. She looked up in surprise as he maneuvered her until they switched positions. He sat her down as he leaned back into the pillows she was recently using as a backrest. She watched him in silence until he flashed another gorgeous smile and opened his arms to her.

"Babygirl…"

His voice was soothing and it made her eyes widen a bit. Doubled with that heart-stopping smile of his, she could feel her resistance melting away.

"Come here."

The tears resumed fully and she shut her eyes tight a moment before quickly crawling over and falling into him.

"Alright," he soothed. "You really need to rest now…we've goofed off enough," he laughed a little. "You're just tired."

He felt her nod her head. Having one arm secured around her, he moved her up onto him more and wrapped the side of the blanket they were sitting on up and over her. He put her back down where she was neatly tucked under his left arm, her head on his shoulder. She had one arm tucked up by her chest and the other was draped over his chest where his free hand found it.

"Now sleep," he said above a whisper. "I'll wake you when the two idiots are back."

He felt her release a silent giggle and snuggled further into him.

"Thank you, Dante…"

His smile grew, "My pleasure little lady."

Both demons were staring lamely at the forces that were, assembled in defense of West Eden, against them. In fact, that was all they were doing as the offensive continued to unleash sleeve upon sleeve of bullets into their bodies. For both there came a moment of realization from their shooters that, while it looked incredibly fatal that blood was spurting out from the demons as the bullets caused bits of flesh to fly all over, they also stood incredibly still without any signs or sounds of pain. Their thoughts were confirmed when both let out more cries that even shook the ground and broke the windows of some close buildings, and then proceeded on like nothing happened.

Andrew burst through the local supermarket and herded the civilians out of it in fear like a sheep dog. If the humans were thinking logically and paid close attention to the situation sans the demons, they would have noticed that there was minimal damage being down and nobody had died yet. Andrew had gotten everyone out of the market and running for their lives without knocking so much as a can off the shelf. But of course nobody was calm enough to think that much.

Sparda grabbed a tree was among a row planted into the pavement to add some natural décor to the streets and chucked it down the street where it smashed one of the cop cars that was parked a ways away from any of the officers. He then saw another reporter down the road doing a report and decided to teach journalists everywhere a lesson about turning their backs to the danger. He charged down the street, purposely slamming his feet down to make craters in the pavement. The shockwaves of his stride eventually knocked the reporter off his feet. He probably peed his pants when he turned to see Sparda's glowing red eyes directly in his face. Frozen to the spot, his face paled enough to shame fresh snow and his eyes matched the size of pool balls.

The demon took his camera, which had just been abandoned by his cameraman who intelligently ran for his life, and directed it to his face. With another deafening roar, he gave the world a close-up before biting the camera in half and spitting it out at the paralyzed man's feet.

There was a stark contrast of reaction among the people that knew Sparda personally, or at least knew his intentions. In other words, Eva, Claire's parents and her friends who were gathered in the living room watching all of this unfold on various news stations that dared to risk their reporters lives to cover the action.

Scanning the room over, Eva watched with amusement as her husband looked like he was having the time of his life. He was like a dog who had been chained up for years and was now finally able to run around and explore. Love is strange; Eva found that part of him to be more attractive than terrifying. That was a statement that most likely would land her in the loony bin if she publicized it.

Claire's friends were…well to say stunned would be selling it rather short. Sarah was pale as she watched the men that she saw in human form no longer than an hour ago demolish and terrorize the town. Madison was also shocked to silence but also casting glances at Eva from time to time. She wanted to ask so many questions but couldn't bring herself to vocalize any of them. And Jordan wasn't much different. The events that were being televised in front of her only managed to make her more anxious to interrogate her friend and boyfriend. She had to admit it was bugging/confusing her that Eva was watching each shot of Sparda with a small smile on her face.

James and Karen were in similar to the same state as the three girls, both in speechlessness and a shock to take in the two demons in their true forms. They finally understood why Claire was so against having them transform in person. They were both pretty sure they would have fainted on the spot.

Dante had snuck away from Claire a moment and was peering around the corner at the TV. Claire was so drained from the day that she never stirred when he slowly lifted her up and got out from under her. His eyes slowly found themselves drawn to Claire's friends, mostly Jordan. They never got a chance to explain any of this to them and he was curious how they were taking watching his father and friend in their true forms. He was silently hoping the shock of the turn of events would be enough to tell them to get out without having to give a debriefing on the whole demon and half-demon thing. He would be fine giving that speech one more time, but it would be preferred to wait another day. He had better stamina than any human, but even he was finding himself close to exhaustion. He wanted nothing more than to go back and fall asleep for the night with Claire safely tucked in his arms.

Waiting for his payoff, Andrew had managed to make it back to the checkpoint before his friend. Sparda was currently too much into grabbing random cameras and performing heinous acts while controlling them to show the viewers whatever they wanted. When he finally reached Andrew, he actually found his friend had been waiting a good 10 or so minutes.

"Sorry," Sparda started with a laugh. "I got so into the destruction I couldn't stop. It's been a while since I've had so much fun."

Andrew showed he didn't care that the demon king was late; he just made 100 bucks. Reading the silence behind the smile, Sparda laughed.

"But you don't care. You just made rent."

Turning, they both looked up at the TV building behind them. Andrew pushed his friend forward.

"Make it good."

"How do I look?" Sparda struck a pose.

"Like an idiot," he replied simply. "Now get the hell in there and get it done."

Sparda gave a huff at his friends' consistent stoic countenance.

"Always so serious," he shook his head and started for the doors. "That's why you're single."

Sparda didn't have to turn to know that Andrew was probably seething at his constant jests that he's going through life solo. For some reason that always made him so mad.

He broke through the glass doors and crashed through the walls and doors until he stumbled upon the studio. There was a male and female anchor on the set doing the live show that was covering the current events. They were frozen to their seats when he had burst through the wall. On the television in the corner that the anchors used to show them when they were on the air or not, Sparda could see that the shot currently being broadcasted was their frightened expressions, looking at something the audience couldn't see.

He shot forward, and they actually bolted from their spots and out of the room in a flash. Sparda shot his arm to the side and smashed the table they were sitting at out of the way. Reaching for the camera he tilted it up and let out another piercing shout before beginning his destined speech.

"This is the only warning we will give you…"

Back on the sidelines, Andrew folded his arms and leaned against the building. With his heighted senses, he could hear everything his friend was saying. But he didn't have to rely on that a moment later. Sparda had left the shot of the TV a second and then made his reasons known when the intercom above the station turned on and his voice projected to the heavens.

"You have until dawn to clear out of West Eden. We own this town now. Every human we find after that will be slaughtered!" he maneuvered the camera to show his long spiked teeth.

From anyone else, the lines he chose could almost seem laughable. But nobody receiving the broadcast was smiling. With what they had seen the demons do double with the deep and dark voice he had that could make a person's skin crawl just by hearing it, everyone believed every word.

He put the cherry on top when he gathered all he could to let out the loudest cry he could muster. The intercom could only handle a second of that before it burst and let out a flinching chime through the town. Sparda then threw the camera to the side before heading out of the building and joining up with Andrew again.

"That kinda sucked," his friend said casually. "'Every human will be slaughtered'," he mocked his previous words.

Sparda paid his friend no heed as they both turned to take in the fresh waves of bedlam that were sweeping over the dark town. Until they both jumped up onto the roof again to see the town, they could only hear new bouts of screaming. Seeing the humans, they were all running away from the station now.

"Now what?" Andrew asked.

Sparda shrugged, "I say we give it an hour to see if they actually start to leave."

"And then we kill somebody when they don't right?" he laughed.

He looked at him with a raised brow, "You really are one sick bastard."

"You better not choke on that 100 dollars you owe me," he changed the subject.

"I'll get that right to you when I can, Dearie," he rolled his eyes.

They decided that it would be best to give the wait at least another hour. If people did intend to evacuate, they were most likely going to have to pack up their cars. Even though they were terrified out of their minds right now, they were still human and needed to pack up their cars and gather their families. Also it was best to give Claire as much time to rest as possible so she could put all she had into creating a barrier that would help keep the demons in the town. And that barrier had to stand up to the likes of Vergil and Sanctus as well. So they sat down on the ledge and waited.

**I graduate on Sunday…holy crap. Read and review as always! God bless **

**Thursday 1:29 a.m.**


	31. The Barrier

**xxxx**

After waiting the promised hour, the two demons split up again to "help" move along the evacuation. In their waiting period they had wondered if Sanctus or Vergil would interfere. There was just no way they were unaware of the chaos that was going on in the town. Their absence made the two uneasy and thus decided an hour was long enough and that the process could be hurried a bit to avoid any unnecessary casualties.

From what they could see at face value, a pretty decent amount of the houses they were passing seemed vacant so they knew that people were believing in the message. They knew there would most likely be no way to assure that **everyone** left the town. There would probably be a few hold-outs that would be found eventually by going back after the barrier was up and sensing them out.

The barrier itself was decided to be all the way from Claire and Dante's house to the other side of the town. Claire and Dante didn't live further than 5 minutes from each other, but they were also about that far out of town. The barrier was going to be pretty big, about a radius of 6 miles just to include their houses as well.

The initial sweep of the town took only a few minutes before Andrew and Sparda met somewhere in the middle.

"Go and get Claire for me," Sparda started. "And meet on the edge of town over here, " he pointed to the distance behind him.

"Bossy old man," Andrew chided.

Sparda rose a brow, "You sound like my son."

"Be right back you're majesty," he bowed and leapt out of sight.

Sparda headed to the spot he mentioned as he started to plot out how the barrier would be set up. He planned to have Andrew head back to the house after he brought Claire. That way, Andrew and Sparda could connect the barrier on both sides. Where he was standing now was the exact opposite point of his house on the other side of town.

When Andrew got back he found everybody in the living room watching the dwindling coverage of their recent exploits. He gave a shake of his head that the journalists were still composed enough to do reports. The current reporter they were watching was at one of the main roads into town, where a convincing amount of cars were traveling out on it. It was nice to know that their plan seemed to be working.

He had to hold back a laugh upon seeing the dropped jaws and wide eyes of Claire's three friends. He remembered that before Dante and Claire could explain this crazy world to them, they were interrupted by Vergil and his army. So they were getting a dose of true demon heritage by Andrew and Sparda's antics; a true baptism by fire.

He tapped the wall lightly and they immediately turned to face him in the doorway.

"Ready to go, apologies for the wait," he said looking at Eva since he was most familiar with her. "Where are Dante and Claire?"

Claire's friend's expressions grew more stupefied and shocked at seeing the demon they just saw back in person and back in human form. Their eyes raked him from top to bottom, wondering if they truly saw him as a demon moments before. Even James and Karen were finding it hard to believe that the person before them was the thing they saw terrifying and rampaging the town.

"Upstairs," Eva stood up. "I'll go get them."

Back in his room, Dante had sensed Andrew's return but was finding it hard to want to wake Claire up. Sitting beside her he had wanted to continue watching her sleep a little longer. She was too adorable for one thing, and she had only managed to get maybe an hour at best. He hoped she would have enough energy to put up a decent barrier. Sadly, time was never on their side and they couldn't hold this off any longer.

Eva slowly opened the door and Dante shot her a nod that he would be right down. When she left he turned back to Claire. He scooted closer and placed a hand beside her head and leaned down over her.

"Claire," he started softly. "Time to wake up."

He placed his other hand to her face before tucking some strands of hair behind her ear. He knew right away she was at her limits from the longest day of both their lives. She wasn't even stirring at his touch or words. He moved her a little bit and shook his head in a little shame that he had put her through so much; she still wasn't waking. He had to lift her up and slowly bring her to a sitting position for her to even start showing any signs of waking up.

_"Oh Claire," he thought with a smile. "You're so adorable."_

She brought her hands up to rub her eyes before stretching out and blearily looking up at who was holding her. The only light coming in was a combination of the full moon and the hallway light peeking under the door, so she had a hard time focusing on his face. She finally, and had pretty much figured, realized it was Dante when the light from the windows lit up his platinum hair. She was abruptly shaken out of her slow progression to the waking world when he reached forward and gave her nose a hard flick.

"Oww!" she immediately covered her nose with both hands. "What the heck Dante!" came her muffled cry.

"Had to wake you up somehow," he shrugged.

Her eyes glared past her hands a moment longer before reaching forward to give his arm a punch. He caught her attempt with ease and held it there as he spoke.

"See, wide awake," he cracked a crooked grin.

She tried to retract her hand but he held it firmly and grew serious suddenly.

"You gonna be okay to do this?"

He finally let her hand go where it dropped lifelessly to her side. She let out a long breath and it was her turn to shrug.

"I don't know…I've never done it before."

"Well do you feel like you have enough energy?"

"We'll find out," she said getting off the bed.

He frowned, "That's not a good answer."

"Honestly I don't know, Dante," she turned back to him. "But can we please get this done soon…I'm dying for some real sleep."

They both knew her real concern was making sure the demons didn't spread out past the town, and to find if they even had already. Doubled with her desire to keep those closest to her safe, she was ready to put everything she had into this barrier, even if she didn't have any energy left, she was gonna dig deep and find it.

There were endless reasons why Dante loved this girl with all his heart. And everyday the number kept going up. The reason pulling his heartstrings at this particular moment was how strong she was. He, yes he, a half demon who need only sleep perhaps once every two weeks during downtime or eat and drink slightly more often. She may have powers that at times rivaled his and full demons like his father, but she was still human. She just showed how drained she was by passing out almost instantly when she had the chance. And now she was pushing everything aside to ensure the safety of others. Classic Claire Summers. Always putting others before her own wellbeing.

She just finished a long and weary stretch when he gracefully took her in his arms and kissed her soundly. The kiss was so gentle and short that she barely felt it.

"Dante?" she looked up at him with wonder.

He smiled and put his forehead to hers a moment and closed his eyes, "Just felt like doing that."

She smiled and embraced his frame when he lifted her up and took her downstairs. They were all waiting outside with Andrew in the driveway.

She gave a quick smile to her parents who were watching her with some worry. To assure them she gave a thumbs-up and laughed a little when they both finally smiled and gave her four enthusiastic thumbs up of their own. But when Claire spied her three friends to the side she paused with hesitation. The four of them locked eyes and Claire immediately brought herself back up to the pace and reality of the situation.

"Dante," she patted his chest.

Her voice was soft and there was a quick tremble that he almost didn't catch. He looked down to see her giving him a look that said to put her down. She quickly headed over to her friends the moment she was free and stopped right before them.

"I'm so sorry you guys," she eyed them all. "I've put you through so much…and we haven't even explained anything to you…"

They merely stared at her, their expressions seemingly a combination of confusion and uncertainty. And for a second it looked like they didn't know who she even was. Her heart fell more.

"I know," she then placed a hand over her face. "I'm such an idiot…I'm a terrible friend."

Their eyes, and Dante's, flew wider when they heard her voice crack. Now she was standing before them with her face covered and slightly shaking her head. It didn't take them long to grasp she was crying. Dante moved fast to comfort her as a natural instinct. He stopped abruptly. They were all pretty shocked by how Jordan had reacted. Claire found herself being firmly embraced by the one friend of hers that she was anticipating the most hell from; the one she had been getting the most from ever since exposing Dante's true heritage.

"You idiot," Jordan breathed out softly. "Honestly."

Claire's eyes were wide as they stared past her friends shoulder, tears continuing to spill down her cheeks.

"Saying such stupid things like that…you're not a terrible friend, Claire."

"How can you say that?" Claire then exclaimed. "I've lied to you guys! And because of that I've put you in so much danger and –"

"I said shut it," Jordan sharply cut her off. "You're not winning this one."

Sarah and Madison slowly approached the two and each put a hand on Claire's shoulders to show they were there for her regardless. They felt the same way Jordan did.

"You're too good of a friend if anything, Claire," Madison started. "Sometimes we can't believe how caring and compassionate you are to us and people you don't even know."

"We still have a lot we want to know about all this…stuff. But we can wait for you. We aren't entirely sure what the heck is going on…but you do and I think you're needed pretty bad right now."

"That's right," Andrew started. "We don't have time for this right now," his trademark bluntness returned. "This is no time for tears…we're wasting ti—"

Eva swiftly smacked him over the head to silence the untimely remarks. He looked at her in confusion as she shook her head with disapproval towards how ignorant he could be.

Claire actually smiled and choked out a quick laugh at the action and slowly pulled away from Jordan.

"He's right…even though he is pretty inconsiderate," she smiled to show her tease.

He mumbled something and looked away, clearly getting annoyed at how many times that day he was called a jerk. Then slowly, he turned and eyed everyone individually.

"Dante how many can you transport safely?"

Everyone, except the two, understood that question for the moment then Eva and Claire caught on. There were 7 people and only two guys to move them.

"I have Claire and can take another and I assume you can too," Dante started. "We'll have to do trips. Can we push 3 and 4 to shorten the trips?"

"No way," Claire started. "That's stupid. Just take me over and someone else first and make the trips safer. All that matters is I get there right away, not that everyone else dies."

Dante suppressed a laugh at his girlfriend's short temper, no doubt a combination of stress and how long it had been since she had a decent sleep. Eva looked at Claire's parents and friends, "Are you guys even okay with this?"

They looked to each other in wonder of what they all were thinking. Each of them looked very unsure and unsettled about the mode of travel.

"It's really okay, actually," Claire assured them. "I was a bit scared the first time, but then I got used to it."

"Wonderful," Jordan laced the sarcasm. "Can't wait."

Dante took Claire and Eva first. The trip was quick, taking only a couple minutes, so they would be able to get everyone transported in less than 15. Sparda gave Claire a quick smile when she finally arrived before Dante reluctantly took off to help with the others. He took longer coming back because they decided to take the remaining five with the two of them. Dante carried Claire's mother with James on his back. Andrew took Jordan on his back and carried Madison with Sarah on top of her since she was the lightest. Jordan had actually volunteered to go with Andrew, and Dante knew she still had a tinge of distrust for him.

"Are you ready?"

Claire shrugged at the question, "You know…everyone keeps asking me something like that but how should I know?"

Sparda was a bit surprised at how irritated she sounded. It wasn't the reaction he had expected. She let out a long and deep sigh, stretching a bit and then looking at him with determination to get it done.

"Whatever I have to do, I'm ready."

The way it worked, was Andrew and Sparda needed to start the barrier. Dante would have helped, but he had no experience doing a barrier before. So like the rest of their audience, he watched with growing curiosity. Dante and Andrew both took a knee to the ground and rested their arm across it. Closing their eyes, they began to focus their energies to react the way they desired. They gained their red hues before their powers erupted in a bright flash the momentarily shook the ground and air around them. A huge beam of light shot up from both of them to the sky. In a fountain-effect, the red energy combined and started to fall in a dome shape across the sky. What they couldn't see, was the energy falling all across the town until it reach the ground outside each side of the town by about a mile for good measure. Once completed, if you had an aerial shot it was like looking at a giant red bubble, with swirling energies and power skimming the surface like liquid glass. When that part was done, they stood and Sparda extended a hand to Claire. She hesitated, eyes going back and forth from the amazing spectacle before her, to Sparda's calm expression and outstretched invitation.

Dante was even amazed at what he was seeing, so the rest of the group was pretty floored. Eva and Karen shared comments of awe while James was silently struck. Claire's friends were exchanging comments like a group of friends at a theatre after a preview. Jordan was watching Sparda now, who was waiting for her friend to take his hand. Part of him was worried for her, still not getting this whole demon thing. Fear of the unknown was still a part of her.

Claire finally took his hand and he led her directly up to the wall of the barrier and held her hand up inches before it.

"I'm going to place your hand on it in a minute. You might feel a rush of energy. Stay focused and try and keep yourself calm. Take deep breathes if you have to. You need to focus your energy into the barrier. Do what we've practiced. Like when you meditate. You need to clearly imagine what you want this barrier to do. **See** it repelling demons, protecting your friends and family. Whatever it takes."

Claire took all this in while keeping her eyes focused on the swirling energies before her. A part of her was still very unsure she could do what they were hoping, but the other half was more than determined to protect the ones she loved and keep any innocent people from dying.

"You have to be careful though. If you use too much you could die."

A lot of people jolted at that comment, Claire especially. Her parent's eyes widened and looked at each other to see if they both heard that right.

"You're infusing this with your life energy. It's the most powerful form there is, but it's also the most dangerous to use. Use your head on this one. When you feel you've done enough to where you're fatigued, it's time to stop."

With all the information given and all the options presented to her, she gave a final nod before feeling his grip on her hand tighten slightly.

"You'll do fine. We all have faith in you, Claire," came his calming voice. "Ready?"

The air seemed to thicken as anticipation grew among them all. With nobody knowing how this was gonna go down, breathing was becoming short and hearts were beating fast moments before it happened. Even Sparda and Andrew were in the dark of what Claire's powers would do. When she gave him a subtle nod, he slowly moved her hand forward and made contact.

Immediately, she inhaled a sharp, loud breath that made everyone jump, including Sparda. But he held her hand firmly there when it started to shake and feel like she was pulling it back. It was actually the energy pushing her away.

"Fight it, Claire. Focus!"

There was a loud flowing sound being produced, like waves falling over a massive waterfall. Not loud enough to have to cover ears, but enough for Sparda to have to raise his voice to be heard. Dante was reluctant to reach out and help Claire, but understood this was something his dad was better suited for.

Reacting to his instruction, she closed her eyes and pushed against the powers that wanted to repel her. They weren't rejecting her, they were overpowering her and so she had to do as Sparda said.

Images of her choice began to flow over her mind. As her breathing started to calm and fall into a medium rhythm, she found it started to get easier and easier to maintain contact at her hand. She saw demons trying to strike through the barrier but failing. Taking it up a notch, she saw them dying at even touching the energy. She brought up images of her parents, her friends, and Dante with his parents. She even slipped in a silent prayer to God to help her have the strength to protect the people most important to her in the world, and those she didn't even know. She refused to fail.

She was so focused now she didn't feel Sparda release his hold on her hand. Stepping back, he had to give a smile. It definitely seemed to be working, and she seemed to be in control.

As if to verify his thoughts, Claire began to shine with her golden light, before it grew and shot through her hand into the barrier. Changing from orange to solid gold now, it matched her glow and spread out across the entirety of it.

"She did it," Sparda said with a sigh. "Amazing."

After a minute or so with nothing else happening, Sparda began to grow a little worried. Given he had never done this before, he had a sense of when she should have been done channeling energy into it. He cast a glance over at Andrew whose expression said he was thinking the same. Sparda slowly approached Claire and watched her carefully a moment.

"Claire…you've done an amazing job. Now start to finish up. Focus on carefully cutting off your—"

"No."

Her abrupt cut-off made him hesitate to silence.

"Just a little more."

It was in her blood. She was stubborn to a point where her well-being was completely neglected. He watched her carefully and now noted the signs of fatigue coming on full force. Her forehead was laced with sweat, to the point it was spilling down. Her rhythmic breathing was now getting raspy, and her posture was slightly slacking.

"No that's enough, Claire!"

The demon king's outburst shocked everyone, and flooded their hearts with fear.

"If you don't stop you could die! I told you this was dangerous!"

"I want to protect everyone!" she shouted through closed eyes.

He reached up to pry her hand away but she even managed to shoot it away with her energy, even in the midst of focusing on her task. He tried again but got the same reaction. Then Dante ran up and tried to stop his girlfriend and was also shot away.

"Don't be stupid, Claire!" the half demon started. "You can't protect anyone if you're dead!"

She remained silent to their demands and continued to poor everything into this barrier. She wasn't being suicidal at all. Eventually she would stop, but she wanted to make absolutely sure she did everything she could to make it perfect. By now she had a pulsing headache and her body was also getting pains all across it. It was the signs of too much expended life energy. It felt like she was being pushed on every inch of her skin.

They wouldn't have to worry any longer, because there came a sudden burst of light where her hand was connected, before she was shot back. It was even too quick for Dante to react, and all everyone could do was watch her hit the ground hard.

"Damnit," Sparda reacted first and was by her side in a second.

Dante was there immediately after, and gave his dad a glare when he lifted her up and placed her across his lap.

"Give me a second," his father spoke sharply before Dante could say anything.

He placed a hand to her heart and closed his eyes. Regaining his read aura, he started to transfer energy from himself to her, just to make sure she would be fine. He had no idea if she had given everything, but he was going to do this first regardless.

"Is she okay?" Dante shouted the question on all their minds.

They gathered around them and all cast pained and feared expressions at Claire, fearing the worst.

"Sparda?" Karen's voice was small and breaking.

"True she used a lot of her own life force…but she'll be fine. Please just let me finish giving her some of mine."

A few of them let out heavy sighs at the good news.

When he finished, he took a moment to inspect her. To everyone's relief, she was breathing slightly, enough to know she would be fine but for now she was out. Dante wasted no time in taking her into his own lap.

"The hell are you trying to prove…you idiot," Dante shook his head before burying his face in her hair. "Scared the sh** out of me."

"You're daughter is amazing, Mr. and Mrs. Summers," Sparda stood up. "Her determination to protect others is incredible."

Regardless of their worrying they gave a smile at his kind words.

"We know…but I would rather call it stubborn," Karen laughed.

James nodded and everyone was able to share a small laugh or smile to lighten the atmosphere. Dante pulled back and stared at Claire with some anger and relief. He ran a hand over her hair and really got a look at her now that the day was over. Her clothes were destroyed, torn all over and drenched in dried blood and dirt. Her face was also dirtied and her hair was a mess.

"I guess it's time for us to go now, huh?"

Everyone looked to James at his comment. Karen nodded.

"I suppose. We can leave this thing right?" she pointed to the barrier.

Sparda nodded but went up and touched it for good measure. It felt warm to his touch, even a bit euphoric. She had certainly done the job, because he could also sense how powerful this was going to be to those it was meant to stop.

"Touch it if you'd like. It's completely fine. She did an amazing job."

It seemed they were all waiting for the clear to do that, because Claire's parents and friends walked over to touch it right away. With slow hesitation in their movements, they placed their hands on it.

"Wow," Karen gasped slightly. "It feels warm."

"Feels good," James said more to himself. "This is amazing. I'm still waiting to wake up."

They found they could pass through it with ease and back again.

"Demons aren't going to be so lucky," Andrew commented to their actions.

"You guys are demons," Jordan started. "Why can you?"

The demon duo shrugged.

"No idea," Andrew started. "Claire's powers have never hurt us."

"Probably because she cares about you," Jordan said as if it was the most obvious thing.

That sentence was light to everyone there except Sparda. Somewhere within his mind that really struck a chord.

"Take care of her, okay?"

Dante's head snapped up at the soft command from James.

"Please do, Dante. We can't stay here, but we trust you will do whatever it takes to ensure her safety. You always have," she gave him a gentle smile.

"Mr. and Mrs. Summers…I…"

He was at a loss for words at how much they were entrusting to him. Especially James. The magnitude of their faith overwhelmed him; he barely managed a nod. They both bend down beside him to their daughter. James stroked her hair and Karen took one of her hands.

"Take care of yourself sweetheart," James started. "And stay out of trouble," he laughed.

"Love you, Claire," she kissed her dirtied forehead.

They gave one last smile to Dante before turning back to Sparda and Andrew, ready to leave.

"We should leave too, huh?" Madison looked around with uncertainty.

Sarah gave a faint nod but Jordan remained still and silent.

"I'm still in the dark here," she said with some irritation.

Dante's heart fell a moment.

"We are too, Jordan," Karen started. "But I have faith in these three," she referred to Sparda, Andrew, and Dante. "Come on," she gave the frustrated friend a smile. "We can explain to you what we know at least."

"Why can't they?" she nodded her head towards the three demons.

"Don't you think they've got enough on their plate as it is?" James said with a serious tone. "And Dante needs to keep my girl safe. If he doesn't devote 100% to that I'll have to kill him."

Dante swallowed hard, the beautiful moments never did last long with James. The stern tone in his voice actually managed to quiet Jordan into submission. There was no way she was going to argue with Claire's dad of all of them, considering he was risking the most in the situation by leaving his only child. If he was convinced it was okay, then she had no choice but to go along with it.

They made trips back to the house like they did when coming to make the barrier. When everyone was at the house, Sparda told Andrew to take the girls back to their houses. When Claire's friends finally checked their phones, they found a billion messages from their parents. Without hesitation they needed to leave and get back to their parents as soon as possible since most of them thought their daughters were dead, according to the messages they left.

Cars were packed up, houses scoured for the necessities to make it as long as was necessary for the mess they were in to be fixed. Nobody knew that time frame, or even if it was guaranteed to get fixed. And as fast as the situation came upon them, Claire's parents and friends left the town.

**xxxx**


	32. Down Time

**Short and sweet. Please keep those reviews coming. I'm glad finally made it easier to leave a review. So no more excuses right? Right :-P And that's for only a few of those who keep adding my stories to their favorites but leaving no reviews. I think I can speak for a majority of writers here on how annoying that can be. I need to know what people are liking and not liking! I try to appease the best I can. Faster update this time so I'm happy about that.**

Eva took to caring for Claire the moment they got back home. She washed her hair and cleaned her face and skin the best she could. Knowing Claire most likely wouldn't mind, she even changed her into a random blue tank top and pair of green running shorts she scoured from the pile she brought with her. She switched her out of the clothes keeping her under garments on, of course. It was hard to maneuver her while she was asleep, but Eva was pretty strong herself. It helped that Dante had helped bring her into the bathroom and place her in the tub. Speaking of Dante, Eva had to bat him away afterwards for two reasons. One, he was worried about Claire to the point of annoying the heck out of her. She understood he was just being endearing, but he needed to know when to back off a bit for his girlfriend's wellbeing.

"I'll get her back to you before you know it!" she had exclaimed before shutting the room door in his face and locking it. She then locked the bathroom door for good measure.

The other would be…he's a pervert. Just the mention that Claire needed to be changed and bathed made his ears perk and his hormones reach dangerous levels.

"If she were awake she would punch you through the window for even thinking those thoughts," Eva gave him a thump on the head. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Dante!"

Claire cleaned up fast, due to her natural healing powers. All she needed was a quick scrubbing and washing of her hair. When Eva opened the bathroom, Dante was hovering over her like a hawk. She blinked a few times, about to voice her question of how he got in the room, before she saw the curtains blowing by the balcony.

"Honestly…sometimes I forget what kind of children I had."

She passed him and pulled back the sheets of the guest bed, which was now Claire's room for the time being. Eva figured he would pick her up and take her from the bathroom there. Again, she had to put her foot down on his perviness, which she noted had to come from a certain full demon husband of hers. Where was he off to with her? To **his **room. She cleared her throat and he stopped suddenly, back facing her, almost out the door.

"Seriously…the moment you get rid of James you get rid of your upstanding façade."

He turned back to her with an, oh, so innocent face.

"I'm not gonna do anything," he said in a tone that asked how she could even suspect him of dirty things.

"You're right," she headed up to him and pointed behind her to the bed. "Because I won't let you."

"Ah come on, Mom," he sighed with a roll of his eyes. "I have higher standards than that."

"Me too, Sweetheart," she laced her voice with a stern tone. **"Put her down."**

A small shudder went up the half-demon's spine before he swallowed hard and obeyed her orders. Upon watching him further, Eva's heart softened for her son. He placed her down like a substance far more breakable than glass, like he was instead holding her very heart in his hands. Placing the blankets over her he assumed his rightful place beside her, his face flooding with concern and a hint of regret and sadness. No doubt he continued to beat himself up for constantly placing her in these situations.

Eva placed a hand on her son's shoulder and gave him a reassuring and loving motherly smile. She was proud of how much he was like his father. His love for humans a stark contrast of his older brothers. It sometimes made Eva tear up to know Dante was capable of such love for another person.

"She'll be just fine…you should get some sleep. I know you are able to get by without it more than her, but today had to be the longest day of your life," she looked at Claire. "Both of yours."

She voiced what the young couple had been saying and thinking the entire day. Dante did know he needed sleep, even if it was just a couple hours tops, but his desire to be with Claire overrode his health concerns. Eva could read this sacrifice in his silence and gave a sigh.

"I'm all for letting you stay with her, Dante. We'll just keep it a secret. But if you do anything…**anything**…"

Dante's eyes were drawn to his mother's for her change of heart and sudden dark tone.

"…I know James would want your head. And I wouldn't mind feeding it to him."

Her mood swings were giving him mental whiplash, but he took the positive from that statement and thanked her for allowing him to stay. Of course, only after giving a full promise of his word to behave a couple times for good measure.

When she finally left the room she gave a jump to find Sparda waiting for her, leaning against the wall outside.

"Something wrong?" she inquired of his waiting.

He gave a short laugh and wasted no time taking her close.

"It's become so chaotic around here that you question something is wrong when seeing me?" he smiled down at her.

She rose a curious brow, "Well yes."

"Andrew has agreed to keep watch for now and its one of those very rare moments where I could use some sleep."

She caught the suggestive tone in his voice and sported a small blush, smiling nonetheless. She couldn't remember the last time they had done **that**. Snaking her arms around his neck she sighed a tired yet elated breath.

"I've missed my Spardy."

He quickly kissed her deeply, to both of their desires. Even though he was tired, he had plenty of energy to kiss her like a real pro. The door behind them opened and Dante stuck his head out.

"Get the heck out of here…you guys are gross," he made a face.

They broke the kiss laughing to themselves and Sparda shot his son a glance.

"You're just upset you can't do what we're gonna do with Claire yet."

The half demon's face slightly flared.

"…"

"He better not," Eva added, piercing eyes back at her son.

"Get lost," Dante found his voice. "It's disgusting. Get a room."

Sparda lifted his wife off her feet and started down the hall, "We have a room," he laced his voice with enough seduction to please his lady and further disgust his youngest child.

Dante's face twisted even more, and shook a shudder that ran down his spine. Returning quickly to Claire's side, he was grateful to finally have the day over, and her safely tucked away to finally get some sleep. It was more noticeable than ever how much the day had done to her. The contrast from before she was cleaned to now even surprised him a bit. Cleaning off all the dirt and smudges from her face made it appear she had changed two skin tones lighter. Her hair was back down and straightened, as well as back to a pure strawberry color. Earlier it almost toted a dirty brown. He rose his hand to cup her cheek and shook his head in shame.

"Why do you stay with me?"

His voice was strained and even surprised him how shallow it sounded. After a few moments of silence he withdrew his hand to cover his face, slumping over in in a moment of apparently being overwhelmed.

"…and that stunt you pulled back there…"

He still couldn't grasp how far she was willing to go to protect the ones she loved. How easily she stared down death when putting almost all her life energy out; it truly scared him. While he admired her for her selflessness, he had never been more afraid at the same time. And the same with how careless she gets around his brother. He was slowly understanding how willing she was to die if it meant those around her would be happy. He wouldn't deny his selfishness. He wanted her all for himself. He wanted to whisk her away from everyone if it meant he would never have to worry again, if she would only look at him. He wanted everything about her, everything she could give.

"…it's dangerous…"

He finally got on the bed and lied down next to her, placing an arm over her.

"…how much I love you…"

**They all needed some downtime. And oh Sparda and Eva…how romantic right! Heehee. Thanks for reading!**

**July 10****th**** 11:11p.m. (hey that's cool!)**


	33. Their Family's Past

**GO TEAM USA! Here's a chapter with a few dips into the past and gives a look into what happened to Vergil (to an extent) . Enjoy! Thank you to all who keep those reviews coming constantly, you rock. And to those who aren't registered, since I can't reply to your reviews, I would like to thank you for them here! Enjoy.**

"What's that look for?" Dante frowned.

Sparda continued to stare at his son's sudden and quite unforeseen presence in the library.

"Well…?"

"I can't say I expected to see you here…"

"I live here," he retorted.  
"Not what I meant," his dad shut his book and stood from his desk. "I meant without Claire."

"Eva is tending to her again…" he trailed off and his look was distant, out the large windows.

"Still not up, huh," Sparda said more to himself. "Well I guess it's to be expected."

"Not this long though," he breathed the sentence out.

"She used a dangerous amount of life energy. That would take a while for anyone. Since she's human that only adds to how long it could take."

He wasn't sure if that was enough to convince his son, who ran a hand through his hair with an elongated and frustrated sigh.

"I can only sense her presence when I'm right next to her. It's so weak…"

"She **will** wake up," he moved beside his son and put a hand on his shoulder, not unlike his mother had days earlier.

"What was she thinking?" he asked.

His dad gave a gentle shrug and sat on the desk while shaking his head a little at his son's question.

"While I understand you're in shock, do you really think that's a question anymore?"

He shot his dad a look that was a mixture of confused and slightly irritated.

"More than anyone else…you, Dante," he pointed. "…should know the answer to that."

He waited for his dad to continue.

"To say she loves deeply would be an insult. There are no words to describe how passionate she is for people she loves…and people she doesn't even know."

Dante remained silent, but his eyes had fallen as he took in what his dad was saying.

"And for her to call you her boyfriend…to have a majority of that solely on you…doesn't that just overwhelm you?"

After being silent a moment, Sparda watched his son carefully and found himself pretty surprised when Dante suddenly hid his face in his hand. There was no doubt in his father's mind, however, that he had seen a tint of red on his face. Any other time in the world, Sparda would have relentlessly teased his son for blushing, but not today. It was too important of a question; he really wanted a serious answer from his son.

"Of course it does, Dad."

The full demon's eyes went wide at how sincere he was, and how vulnerable he sounded. It was very wrong to say Claire had him wrapped around her finger, because that implied almost a negative connotation of control. The affect this girl had on the half demon was one that completely changed his world, stole his heart, and made him feel more alive than he could ever be. His dad could hear it in his voice, see it in his expressions and actions; without Claire Summers, he was dead. And he couldn't remember a time his son had honestly called him 'Dad.'

"I'm proud of you, Son."

Dante's head snapped up, eyes a little wide and face still tinted over.

"Because you chose to embrace love…"

Again, Dante's eyes fell, and he shrugged off the deep comment, "It's really nothing…it wasn't hard."

Sparda laughed but Dante could tell it wasn't out of humor.

"I didn't think so either, Son. I knew who I wanted to be…and I can tell you do too. I just wish I could say the same for Vergil."

"He used to be good."

Sparda only nodded as he thought back to the days leading up to his son's drastic change of character. Vergil was always the more proud of the demon's two sons. He always wanted to get stronger, and often told his father he wanted to surpass him. However, it was never in a negative way. He was just competitive, and always wanted to push himself as far as he could go. And while he was unquestionably power-hungry, you would never say it was with evil intent.

Then, slowly, things started to change. He became more angry, aggressive, and distant. Not being as good as his father started to mean more than just a matter of age. It became unacceptable. But the harshest changes came when he got into a fight with Sparda that seemed it would be to the death. At least that was what Vergil made it out to be.

But it wouldn't be. When the half-demon saw he was no match for his father, he ended the fight with a declaration that shattered the family's hearts.

"I've always hated you," he stood still, cold, against the fading light. "Knowing that human blood runs through my veins…it's sickening."

His voice had been dark…devoid of anything resembling the son and brother they all once knew.

"You can tell that b**** you married she's better off dead."

Sparda had been too shocked to pursue his oldest son when he quickly bolted away and out of sight. He remembered falling to his knees in complete shock of everything that had happened in the collection of days. He had lost his son, but even more, it appeared everything he knew about Vergil, and the life he had lived, was a lie.

The battle was quick, and sensing the distress, Dante had hurried out to see what was going on. Dante could barely trust the information his father was feeding him about his oldest brother. That he hated his family, despised his mother, and declared he wanted nothing more to do with them.

While Sparda was absolutely against ever telling Eva the words of contempt Vergil had used on her, he also believed that a successful marriage has basis in trust and faith in each other. There was no doubt telling her the news was one of the hardest nights of his life. To say the words put her in agony was an understatement. He had held her for a probable 24 hours straight until her tears had finally stopped. It took months for her to function somewhat normally again. The family decided it was best to erase the pain the best they could, so talking about Vergil became taboo. Only recently with his appearance again did the taboo get erased.

That was 8 years ago. And when things started to get out of balance in the underworld, Sparda had to take his leave back to create a balance once more. That was 4 years ago, and they enjoyed peace on the surface because of Sparda's efforts.

Years did little to nothing on the memories of that day for the Redgraves. Everything would probably stay vivid in their minds for as long as they lived.

"Maybe there is still hope for him."

Such a simple statement jolted Sparda from the past and caused him to look at his son with, arguably, the most shocked expression ever.

"Son…"

"Ah don't give me that," Dante looked away with some irritation at how dumbfounded his father reacted. "No doubt you do to after all that's happened."

"What do you mean?"

Dante was silent a moment, what he was about to admit, finally, was gonna be hard to say, Sparda could tell.

"Well…Claire believes in him…"

He gave a frustrated sigh, then, and shook his head while looking at the ground, "I've never known her to be wrong."

It was pretty paramount for him to admit anything positive towards his brother, so Sparda had every right to stay stunned a moment longer.

"She is pretty contagious," the demon hid his face in his hands with a grin. "Isn't she?"

Dante stayed silent, but did share a little of his father's smile.

And speak of the (non) devil. From upstairs in the guest bedroom, receiving care from Eva, and tucked under perhaps one too many blankets, Claire Summers finally stirred.

**Yay she's up Time to get the ball rolling again. What has happened in her 3 days off?**

**Monday July 30****th****, 2012 2:17p.m.**


	34. All's Quiet in West Eden

**My new job is a massive time-screw. Finally got a usual lengthy one out. Was tired of the small less than 1,500 word wonders. Thank you all who wrote reviews. And to those who wrote as guests, THANK YOU! I can't respond to you directly, but I really appreciate any interest you have. And welcome to the new readers! With that, enjoy. **

She had zero energy, a fuzzy head, bleary eyes, and absolutely no idea what was going on. And all Claire did was sit up and mutter some incoherent phrases…which was all it took to send Eva into a frenzy. The mother ran up to her and put a hand to her forehead, then into the bathroom before coming back with a washcloth. She gently pushed Claire down and put it on her head before rushing to the foot of the bed and picking up a load of clothes and putting it off the bed. The young girl slowly sat back up again, taking off the towel and looking at it a moment and then looking back at the mother in overdrive. Eva ran to the door but stopped quickly and apparently asked her a question. She was overwhelmed, and her lack of energy made it hard to focus on Eva's fast paced ventures; all she did was stare.

The frantic woman finally stopped her charge when Claire merely stared at her without much emotion. She headed back to her side and put a hand to her face.

"Eva…what…you gotta slow down…"

Despite her concern for the girl, Eva laughed at how disoriented she was.

"Sorry, Claire. Are you okay?"

The buzzing slowly stopped as Claire focused her mind and eyes to her surroundings. She was in 'her' room, it looked to be about early evening, as the shadows outside were long and reaching towards the east, then she realized Dante wasn't around. She started to remember why she was probably in bed. The barrier. She recalled working with Sparda to put it up, and thereafter fighting with him to make it as strong as possible. But after that…nothing. She could only assume it meant she lost consciousness and thus why she was lying in bed with a somewhat erratic and concerned Eva at her side. But passing out being the case, it was odd Dante wouldn't be there when she awoke.

"Where's Dante?"

Eva smiled; she practically expected that to be one of the first things Claire would wonder.

"He actually just left a moment since I came in to tend to some things with you. Other than that he's practically been by your side for three days straight—"

"Three days?" she exclaimed and shot her head up.

Immediately, she became overwhelmed with a pain to her head and hunched forward a moment.

"Careful," Eva said quickly, and reached to steady her. "No doubt you're exhausted."

"Three days?" she continued to repeat in shock. "What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with being human, Claire," Eva laughed.

"Gosh…no wonder he isn't here…probably can't even sense I'm awake."

"That makes sense…you just need something to eat I would assume. I've already changed your clothes and washed your hair."

Claire looked down and ran a hand through her hair to verify those statements and laughed.

"You're awesome, Eva."

"Thank you. Shall we?" she offered her hand.

"Is Dante here?" Claire asked as Eva helped her up.

She noticed her legs were very weak and it was only due to Eva's help she was able to even get up and stand.

"Should be."

"I'd like to see him first…no doubt he's been worried sick."

"Well you've got that right…boy do I have some stories for you."

Much to Claire's amusement, Eva told her about how she had to lock him out of the room and shoo him away countless times. Claire laughed/was a bit concerned at the perverted moments her boyfriend had during her unconscious state and thanked Eva for keeping his hormones at bay.

They searched the house from the top down and Eva made note that Sparda was in the library so their best bet would be to ask him since Dante wasn't in the living room or elsewhere. Heading down the final flights of stares was proving difficult for Claire, who had to constantly thank Eva for her help. Pushing open the large double doors, they spotted Sparda standing at the desk, and not far from him was Dante.

The father and son looked over at the doors when they opened. They both had sensed Eva's presence for a while, but like Claire figured, they weren't able to pick her up due to her fragile and depleted state.

"Claire," the word left Dante's mouth instinctively.

He started running towards her, but Claire quickly brought up an arm to stop him.

"Hold on!"

He skidded to a stop and the look of confusion filled his face as well as Eva's and Sparda's. Immediately after, there flashed a hint of pain that caused Claire's heart to skip. She quickly gave him a smile and opened her arms up to him, which was hard because she had to stand on her own power for a moment.

"I'm breakable right now Dante. Go easy on me."

His face lit up and he quickly closed the distance while Eva headed over to Sparda who was laughing at Claire's comment.

"Do you enjoy worrying the hell out of me?" Dante breathed into her hair as he slowly brought her to the ground so she could rest.

"Sorry…watch your mouth."

"Honestly," he smirked. "You never miss a beat."

"You'll forgive me…you always do."

"I guess," he kissed her forehead as she settled in to the comfort he always brought.

His parent's were glad to see the two of them rightfully back in their places. They couldn't remember a time when their son had been more miserable, concerned, and annoying with constant questions of how Claire was doing, than the last three days.

"You should eat something, Claire," said Eva.

"And hydrate," added Sparda.

She nodded and looked up at her boyfriend, "Carry me."

"Yes ma'am," he gave her a salute.

They all headed into the kitchen, which continued to hold to the overall house's theme of elegance and space. It was an island kitchen, accented with a bar-like seating area and large windows overlooking the large backyard. The countertops shone with gray granite stone while the cabinets had a polished white wood finish. The bar-style seating was in the shape of a crescent moon with the granite tops but the base was made of white stones. It could almost be considered a double island kitchen for the size and the fact that aside from the bar seating area, the very middle of the kitchen had an island black granite counter where the stove was also on top. Over the seating area were hanging lamps with light blue glass shades.

Sparda brought a blanket and pulled up a chair behind one of the stools at the request of his son. Dante sat there and placed Claire on the one in front of him so he was able to straddle her from behind and keep her up due to her lack of energy. Then he made quick work of enveloping her in the blanket.

"Such a gentleman," Claire said dramatically and leaned back into his support.

"I dunno, Claire," Sparda sat across from them on the counter. "From what I heard he can be a real pervert."

Dante shot his dad a look.

"And his father can be rude," Eva tapped her husband's shoulder. "In more ways than one. Off."

He hopped off the counter and gave a bow, "My apologies, Milady."

"Claire we have some beef stew leftovers from last night if you would like that?"

"Sure," she smiled. "Anything sounds good right now."

His parents went to work preparing her food while she rested contently in the arms of her boyfriend. She had been asleep for the three days, but Dante had to live with each passing minute he wasn't able to spend time with her. He tightened his grip a little and she smiled more in response. Claire dropped her eyes down to where his hands were around her and she placed hers on top but then paused.

On her left hand was the promise ring Dante had given her. Ashamed to admit it, she had completely forgotten about it in the midst of chaos since the happy moment. She brought it up and stared, mesmerized by the beauty as if never seeing it truly before now. It made gave her butterflies just to watch it glint, and tears were close but would settle to just water her eyes.

"I can't wait to marry you."

Eva and Sparda froze and turned around to the sudden comment. They looked at her after the declaration, to see her blissfully smiling down at the ring with the hint of wetness in her eyes.

"Claire…"

Honestly who wouldn't be speechless after hearing their girlfriend say something like that? Looking she found him staring down at her with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. She giggled.

"Oh come on Dante…hopefully that doesn't come as too much of a shocker…"

Maybe a small pang of worry ran through her when he continued to just stare down her in shock. He glanced up at his parents and then confused Claire momentarily when he gracefully maneuvered the blanket up and around her, hiding them from view. She wouldn't be able to voice her question, much less think it, when Dante pulled her face up to his and crushed his lips to hers.

Eva and Sparda resumed their work with smiles after hearing a muffled sound of surprise from under the makeshift tent.

The half-demon didn't hold anything back; he had three days to make up. She barely caught her breath between his aggressive kisses. They were firm enough to relay how much he had missed her, and yet gentle enough to be loving. Even so, Claire wasn't able to keep up with his fervor, and had to pull back. She gripped his shirt as she tried to catch her breath. And when Dante removed the cover over them, he was able to enjoy the sight of her looking up at him with surprise and flushed face.

"Dante," she huffed. "What the heck…"

He merely smiled and brushed the side of her hair to her cheek.

"Three days of nothing, Dear," he said simply. "And then you go and say something like that…honestly…"

There came a change in his casual tone to one Claire had come to know. It was one that sounded like he was overwhelmed, and having a hard time voicing what was on his mind.

"…sometimes I wonder if you have any self-consciousness."

She was aware, and he knew it, that he was slightly wearing some red on his cheeks. She came to know it took a lot for him to blush at anything, and she was inwardly happy she had that power on him. But back to his comment, she was lost for what he meant.

"What?"

He chuckled and shook his head at her blissful ignorance.

"See what I mean?"

She continued to give him a puzzled look when Eva brought her food over.

"Here you go…something to drink?"

It wasn't until she was staring at possibly the most delicious spread before her, that she realized how incredibly hungry she was. The bowl was rather large, and in the middle of a plate that was also big. Surrounding the bowl were miniature pieces of bread with a few different selections of spreads and butters. The soup itself had hearty chunks of beef, carrots and corn swimming around in a delectably thick brown sauce.

"Water is fine," she said in a daze.

Seeing the soup's effect on his girlfriend, Dante laughed and scooted them closer to the table, picking up a spoonful.

"Say 'ah'."

"I'm not a three-year-old," Claire sent him a look.

"I bet you'd look so cute if I fed you!" he said in a jovial tone.

"Dante, you idiot!" she swatted at him, only increasing his amusement from his absence of teasing her for quite some time.

"Here comes the plane!" he moved it towards her mouth. "Open the hangar!"

She was now silent as she sent him a death glare. With his free hand he took her chin and lowered until he was no more than an inch from her lips with his.

"Of course I could always feed it to you through my mouth," he said with seduction.

She tinted over and let out a low growl, "Dante…"

He laughed off her stern tone of warning and patted her head.

"Fine, fine. You win," he put the spoon back in the bowl and brought it closer to her.

She started her meal in silence, but while she slowly regained energy, her mind also started to turn. Three days was a long time to be out without something happening. It was best to catch up.

"We altered the barrier for starters," Sparda answered her question. "You had it working so people could freely walk in and out. Now we can do that. Once people leave it, they can't come back in."

"Probably for the best," she stirred her stew around. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

Dante ruffled her hair with a laugh.

"We know, Claire. After that stunt you pulled putting almost all your life energy into the barrier….we know how adamantly you feel about that…though I wish sometimes you would give a little more thought into how much you worry others with your selflessness."

"What happened exactly?" Claire gave them a sheepish smile.

They shook their heads at her innocent nature.

"Well you were thrown back eventually because the power of the barrier was more than you could handle," Sparda explained. "Knocked you out immediately. Thankfully I was able to transfer my own life energy into you before your heart failed."

"You didn't have to do that!" Claire immediately felt bad. "Are you okay?"

Dante batted his girlfriend on the head lightly, "Are you even listening!"

She looked up at him in confusion for the action.

"If he wouldn't have done that you wouldn't be here…and yes he's fine," he shook his head at her.

Sparda and Eva merely found her sudden discomfort of the knowledge classic Claire Summers and laughed it off.

"Thank you for the concern but I'm fine. That was three days ago," he teased her.

He went on to explain that her parents and friends packed up and left town immediately after the fact. Then from there Sparda and Andrew had taken turns scouring West Eden for any stragglers. And by now they were certain they were the only ones left.

With that out of the way, they brought her up to date on how the media was covering the incident. It didn't surprise her to find it was national news, and the barrier itself was drawing people from all over. It was under 24-hour surveillance by the area channels. The barrier, surprisingly to Claire, didn't stop cell phone or wireless signals, so phones were still operational. Her barrier's only intent, Sparda stressed again, was to keep demons in. She was put at ease to know she could call her parents and friends anytime to check in.

Eva had managed to look up some YouTube videos on her son and husband. There were some with Claire in it too. Most of them were from the party at the lake, as Claire has suspected earlier. Some had dared to capture Sparda and Andrew's pursuits through the town. None of them were very good in quality because the shooter was either too slow to follow the movements or scared out of their minds.

The most important news, which nerved Claire quite a bit, was there were no reports of Vergil or Sanctus while she was out. It had been completely quiet since the barrier went up.

"That doesn't sound good at all," Claire put her spoon down a second and looked at Sparda, "Right?"

He nodded.

"Yes it is a bit suspicious. To be honest I expected him to come and try to stop us when we were putting it up. No doubt he felt your power then…he had to know what we were up to."

Sparda then looked at his son, "Dante."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Which is why when you're all better," he put his hand on her shoulder, "I want you to train with me."

"Train with you?" she repeated.

"Yeah. We have no idea what they're up to. But we do know that things are gonna get bloody now that all the demons are in one spot."

"We hope," Sparda added. "But right now it does look like we've secured them. There have been no reports of any outside this city."

"You up for it?" Dante put his hands on her shoulders.

"I guess…couldn't hurt."

Claire finished up her food and was thankful to find the energy did her good. She was able to walk on her own back upstairs while Dante talked with Andrew and Sparda about what not. She glanced out the windows when she was back in her room, upset that nightfall was close already and she had just woken up. She happened to catch a blur out of the corner of her eye. Samson snuck out of the room behind her.

"Sammie!" she called and followed him out.

Another thing she let slip her mind; her feline companion. The cat ran over to Dante's room and pushed through the slightly opened door. Following him in, she found he jumped onto the bed and curled up against the pillows. She tilted her head in confusion of the actions. What was wrong with her room? With her?

"What's up with you Samson?"

He was purring as she sat beside him and stroked his fur. She was distracted when a flash caught her eye this time and she glanced across the bed to the bedside stand where Dante's cellphone laid, plugged in. She crawled across the bed and picked it up.

Opening it, she faltered a little to see he had about 30 missed calls, the same in voicemail, and a ton of text notifications. She was struck with another "duh" moment and once again had to laugh at her naivety due to the distractions in her life. Just as she had close friends, so did Dante. She mentally slapped herself for neglecting to recall how his best friend Michael and the others were taking all that had happened. Almost all of the notifications were from Michael. The texts were asking everything from where he was, to asking what the heck happened at the party where he revealed who is he really was, to wanting to talk about everything happening now. Claire was so engulfed in her own world she was worried about her three friends with not evening a nod of attention to Michael and the others.

She didn't hang around them that often, because when they did, it was a boy's-only world. But regardless of that, she came to really enjoy Michael as well as his other close friends Andrew, Caleb, Keenan, and Aaron. God could only wonder how they were taking everything in. And from the looks of the phone she was holding, he had completely neglected them!

"Idiot," she breathed out in frustration.

Finding her reserve, she sat down and quickly called Michael. No shocker he immediately picked up.

**Of course Dante has friends! How will they respond to the truth? Yay new characters! **

**Sunday August 19****th**** 11:30p.m.**

**Turtle without a shell: homeless or naked?**


	35. Fueling The Fire

**Things are starting to heat up in more ways than one. Enjoy ****. Thanks for reviewing guys!**

"Devin? Devin, man, is that you?"

There was a pause on Claire's side where she slowly sat back down on the bed, releasing a sigh. Hearing her boyfriend's fake name meant there was a lot Michael and his friends were unaware of. It was stressful, knowing that if she involved them it would be a repeat of all the hell her and Dante had been through with informing her friends and parents. Third time's a charm.

"Devin?"

"Hey, Michael," she answered quickly for her lack thereof. "It's Claire."

"Claire? Guys it's Claire…are you okay, what the heck is going on! Where's Devin? Is he okay? All that stuff we saw on YouTube and the news is that all true? And then those things at the lake…honestly it's an asylum out there!"

If it were an anime, she would have sweat dropped with a nervous laugh. Instead, she put a hand over her face and let out another long sigh. In the background she heard his other friends, she assumed, also because he told them it was her he was taking to. No doubt when they kicked town they gathered in the same place. They were apparently very intent on listening in to the conversation Michael was having. No doubt because they heard him answer the phone with their long lost friends name.

"Michael, please calm down…I know it's crazy…it's actually a lot crazier than you know."

"What? Hey, why hasn't Devin called us back? And why are you on his phone?"

"Honestly I'm wondering the same thing…" she admitted mostly to herself.

"What?"

She paused to a sound behind her to see Dante standing in the doorway with a confused expression. No doubt wondering why she was in his room.

"Michael can I call you back?" she asked quickly.

"What?"

"Call you right back."

"Claire wait—"

Ending the call she turned to find Dante was right beside her, startling her a little, and glancing at the phone in her hand.

"What's going on?"

She bit her lip and slowly handed him his phone.

"Have you checked this thing lately?"

He looked at it, not with confusion, but with annoyance.

"I try not to."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm well aware my friends have been calling me," he tossed it on the bed.

"…and?"

"We have more important things to worry about than them," he followed his phone by stretching out on his bed.

She blanched, and then fought the urge to give him a good bump on the head.

"Friends are important, Dante!" she stressed. "I thought you all got along really well…am I wrong?"

"We got along fine, but I don't know if I could do another Q and A…"

She guessed he was referring to the ones they had with her parents and friends, and even then she wasn't sure her friends were taking it too well. It was a miracle her parents lulled over so well.

"One more can't hurt?" she suggested.

He shook his head, "Don't wanna."

She rolled her eyes. The phone buzzed next to him and he casually reached for it and silenced it like it was nothing.

"Dante! You gotta have friends!"

He shook his head and took her hand and lifted the ring up to his eyes.

"I have you. That's all I need."

He watched her for a reaction and saw her tension leave her body while her face softened.

"Oh Dante," she said quietly.

Surprising him quite a bit, she crawled onto the bed and over top of him, straddling his waist and lowering her face to mere inches before his. He closed his eyes in anticipation of her kiss.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And after waiting enough, he opened his eyes to see her giving him a rather un-amused and peeved expression.

"You're such an idiot," she said monotonously.

Picking up a pillow, she pressed it into his face.

"While I'm flattered you think that, I don't believe it for a second."

He flew the pillow off, "Why not?"

She sat back away from his face.

"Well I do believe you love me a lot…but I don't think you neglect your friends as much as you put on."

He waited for her to continue and rose himself up on his elbows.

"If you really didn't care about them, why even bother keeping your cell phone charged?"

She could tell she was right when he looked away from her for a moment.

"Since we're practically right beside each other at all times to this point it seems like a step you could skip. And having it right next to your bed doesn't help your case either."

The phone buzzed again beside them, drawing only her attention as he continued to deny its importance. She reached for it, leaning forward a ways in the process, before getting a rather unusual sound out of her boyfriend. She pulled back to see his face was slightly flushed and it looked like he was in some sort of pain.

"Dante?" she leaned forward to get a better look at him.

He made the sound again and she jumped when his hands quickly grabbed her hips. Next thing that struck her was his breathing. It was erratic, like he just finished a sprint.

"What's the matter with you?" she was beyond perplexed.

He laughed, which was the last thing she expected, noting his painful look.

"Honestly," he dug his head back into the bed, letting out a laugh. "No damn self consciousness."

"What the heck is going on? You sick or something? You're face is red."

She reached forward to touch his forehead, not really understanding what she was putting Dante through with each subtle movement. And like last time, he gripped her hips firmer.

"Please get off me, Claire…"

She just stared at him.

"Unless of course you don't wanna wait 'til marriage," he looked up at her, his voice low with restraint.

All at once, she felt his 'excitement' from underneath her, felt a tingle shoot up her body and flew off of him, catching the side of the bed in the progress and falling horribly to the ground. She sat there, sprawled out, and eyes wide as her brain put together what happened. So in to the phone and her little 'joke' on him with the fake seduction, she had actually seduced him pretty well. Never before had she felt such a jolt through her body. From where they were 'connected' at the moment, was probably as innocent as the two could be towards a sexual act. Her face lit up as her heart pounded. She was scared. It was beyond new to her to experience these emotions. Her body had betrayed her a moment, it wanted to do more, before breaking the contact.

She finally moved, crawling over slowly to the edge of the bed and peeking over to see how he was taking it. He had taken a pillow and covered his face, his breathing still trying to die down. She noticed his knuckles were white as he assumed a vice grip on the pillow. Immediately regretting it, she dared a look at his lower half to see he was still fighting her affects on him. She looked away, still amazed at how her body was taking it. The sight of that caused another pang through her body.

"D-Dante…hey I'm…sor—"

She had reached a hand to touch his shoulder, but he must have sensed it and quickly rolled away from her. Clearly any contact she made to him at this point was only making it harder to calm down his hormones.

"Claire please leave me alone for a moment," came his strained voice.

She immediately crawled to her feet and bolted out of the room. Shutting the door behind her she leaned against it and put a hand to her heart. By chance, she caught Eva and Sparda pass by in the hallway on their way down the stairs.

"Eva!"

The couple stopped at the sound of Claire's voice and gave a jump when she bolted around the corner and grabbed Eva by the arm.

"We need to talk!"

She let Claire drag her away at lightening speeds, as she could only wonder what had the teenager sounding so scared and overwhelmed. She didn't stop until they reached the library, where she finally released her hold on his mother's arm and whirled around to face her with a bright red face and wide eyes.

"Claire what on earth happened to you?"

While she was seriously concerned, she couldn't help but let out a laugh at how Claire was acting.

"…is…"

Eva waited for her to say more and could only watch as the teens mouth would move to speak, stutter, then close again and repeat the process a multitude of times.

"…with Dante…is…"

"…well that is…I mean…"

"…is it hard for him…to…"

Eva merely blinked in quiet confusion. What had this girl so darned incoherent…what had Dante done now? She stepped up to her and put her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Claire…I need **one** complete sentence from you," she emphasized.

She took in and let out a long breath and Eva could only stare in amusement at how red her face was getting at whatever she was about to.

"Is Dante having a hard time not having sex with me!"

She shouted it out, practically screamed it, and Eva gave a jump at the outburst before her face went cautiously neutral. Instead of answering right away, Eva pushed down on Claire's shoulders until they were both sitting on the floor. Eva took the girls hands in hers and held them in between the two of them.

"Oh Claire…tell me what happened."

She recounted the tale. A story which would simply take a few minutes, took her quite a few to tell with plenty of stutters, starting over, trying to find the right words, and avoiding Eva's eyes. The most amazing part, to Claire, was how her body was reacting at recounting the feelings and more specific reactions of Dante's body to her.

"Let me tell you a story," Eva finally spoke. "When Sparda and I were dating we encountered a lot of…sexual tension," she shot Claire a knowing smile. "And it didn't take me long to know that demons were built just a little differently than human men."

"Differently?" Claire was almost afraid to ask but the word slipped out before she could stop herself.

"As you know they have heightened power, abilities…and senses, Claire."

She started to blush again.

"And with that they can have peak desires."

Eva's eyes found the floor a moment and her voice tinted over with some regret.

"I had wanted to wait until we were married but…things progressed quickly between us and I found my reserve a bit overwhelmed."

"Eva…" Claire had started to say something but knew she had nothing and fell into silence.

"I regret not waiting, Claire, but I don't regret the result. If it hadn't been at that time I'm gonna say I wouldn't have a Dante."

Eva sighed.

"And Vergil. True while I regret what he has become I don't regret having him."

They met eyes again and Claire gave her a smile and squeezed her hands.

"And I know how adamant you feel about waiting, Claire. So you need to be careful how you act around him. I'm not gonna ask if this is the first time things may have gone further than you anticipated because I know how it was with Sparda and I. I would be lying if I said Dante wants to wait 'til marriage."

Seeing the distress shoot across Claire's face she quickly added, "But I know at the same time he honors your wish more than you may know. You really do mean everything to him. But…"

"But?"

"But there are times when he will have little control over himself when it comes to you. Good or bad. Good in cases like this where he merely wants all of you for himself. And bad like when Vergil was hurting you in front of him and his demon side took over."

Claire shuddered at the thought.

"So just be hyper-aware of yourself around him. By no means is kissing or cuddling off the list…but be strong and know when it's time to stop before things go too far. I would especially avoid sitting anywhere near his "you-know-what"," Eva air-quoted.

"Eva!" Claire's face flared again.

"Just a joke, just a joke," she laughed and stood. "Bottom line, you'll be fine if you're careful. There's really nothing bad here. You should actually take it as a compliment that you have that effect on him."

Claire just sat on the ground, face growing redder by the minute. She may never say it out loud, but yeah she was pretty happy Dante felt that way about her.

"Come on," Eva offered her hand. "Bed time."

They met back up with Sparda and Claire bid them goodnight before making her way back to her room. She paused when she turned the hallway. Knowing there was nothing to worry about, that did little to setting her mind (and heart) at ease. How was she supposed to face him now? No way it wasn't gonna be awkward turtle. But by no means was she going to start avoiding him…even though she really wanted to until she knew he was okay with her presence. She slowly…very slowly made her way across the way to stand before his closed door. She knocked, which was foreign to her, and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"Dante?"

She opened the door and peered around to see him nowhere in sight, then checked the bathroom, before heading back to the hallway. Like one of those games at the carnival where you take a hammer and test your strength by seeing if you can reach the bell, Claire's heart went up to her throat and down to her stomach. Dante turned the corner from the stairs and they locked eyes. She stopped immediately and stuttered his name out a few times while he merely kept walking. He stopped in front of her with maybe a foot of space between them.

"I called Michael," he said simply. "We're meeting tomorrow at noon. Hope you can make it."

Her head was whirling. He sure was taking this like it never happened.

"You called him?"

She understood what he just told her, but apparently she couldn't say anything else. Or anything that made sense at the moment.

"Time for bed, Claire. I'll see you tomorrow."

He brushed past her with a pat on her head, and she spun around.

"D-Dante about what happened back there…I'm sorry I wasn't…I wasn't aware of what I was doing."

The moment she said 'aware' he stopped and turned around, heading back up to her.

"So do you understand a little?"

"I—"

He moved her until his body was pressed against hers, as he pinned her against the wall. She squeaked when he crushed his lips to her with such a fervor she lost all the air in her lungs. She started to fall, her knees growing weak. He shot her heart rate through the roof when he, without breaking the kiss, reached down and gripped beneath her hips to lift her up and hold her, her legs naturally straddling him. They were once again in a compromising position much like last time. Claire gripped his shoulders, not in protest, but to hang on for dear life. But just as soon as he started, he lowered her down and broke the kiss. Her lips were red, to match her face, and she was warm to the touch.

"See you tomorrow, Babygirl. Goodnight."

And just like that he disappeared behind the luxury of his bedroom walls. While Claire, on the other hand, sunk to the floor in a wave of emotions that made her head spin and her skin prickle.

No doubt tomorrow was a big day she would have to once again help Dante get through, and vice versa. But it looked like tonight was gonna be long enough for her to sort through by herself.

**Love those two. Excited to introduce Dante's friend next! Thank you all who have reviewed, members or not. You keep the chapters coming. **

**Tuesday September 11, 2012 5:10p.m.**


	36. A Rendezvous with Dante's Crew

**Happy Halloween!...ah crap, I missed it by two hours. Happy Chapter Update! I'd like to give some personal thanks to all who reviewed! Can't stress enough thanks for those! **

**Michiko Kurosaki: ****A short but sweet review, but still a review and thank you for that!**

**Sharpie-Marker1101: ****Thank you for adding this as a Favorite Story and Follwing it! Hope to see a review from you sometime down the road!**

**Mike's girl gaia jackson: ****You have such a unique name! Thanks for adding this as a Favorite! Hope to see a review from you sometime!**

**Chaos: ****I'm sad I can't send you a personal reply for your review since you were a guest, so hope you see this. Thank you for liking the story and reviewing!**

**Snookens5: ****As always, I tip my hat to you Snookens5. I can always count on a review from you that I know will tell me what is going right and some things that could be worked on. I love your honesty and dedication!**

**lunag6: ****Thanks for the review! Yep, Dante never changes : )**

**Gamegurl12736: ****To another of my faithful reviewers, thank you! I agree that Claire is getting cuter with each new chapter : ) . Hope you enjoy this one!**

**D1N0: **** If I haven't said it already, I like how clever your name is. I agreed with what you said! When I get off work or come back home I love it when the stories I follow are updated! Thanks for the review and hope you enjoy Dante's friends.**

**Taiyoukai assassin: ****And to my final faithful reviewer, muchas gracias! I have to say I agree that poor Claire is absolutely clueless sometimes when it comes to her influences on Dante. Another great review!**

**And now I shut up. Enjoy the chappie : ) !**

Miss Summers actually managed to catch some sleep that night. But when she woke up, it was merely a continuation of the romantic funhouse. No sound, no alarm, no cat woke her. Really who else would want to wake her up than the man who was good-naturedly haunting her all night?

"W-Wh-….what are you doing!?"

He was leaning over her, alternating between kissing her face and neck.

"Mmmmm, I've missed waking you up like this."

Her cherry face, disheveled hair, and wide eyes fed nicely into his hunger that only she could satisfy. She managed to grab her phone and catch that it was nearing 11 o'clock.

"Already?" she sat up on her elbows, only drawing her closer to his face and body.

"You slept well," he started messing with her hair.

"Not really," she shot him an annoyed expression.

He smiled in amusement as she fell back on her elbows to gain distance between them.

"Why's that?"

"You know damn well why."

His eyes flew wide at her more than rare curse.

"You, Dante. You're the reason I couldn't sleep…idiot," she mumbled and looked away.

His amused smile came back.

"Still about last night, huh? And swearing? You're pretty riled up."

"Why are you so calm about it?"

He could see she was still uneasy as her cheeks turned pink under his gaze.

"I heard you talked to Eva."

She looked at him.

"Claire, I want you to know you are okay to be around me…the last thing I want is for you to be afraid of loving me…physically."

And her tint grew and grew.

"That's why I'm trying to act like it isn't a big deal…because I don't want it to be. Besides you're the only one that can do that to me."

"Change of subject," she put a hand over his mouth. "I understand we're meeting your friends at noon."

He nodded, going back to playing with her strawberry tresses when she removed her hand.

"Where are they? And how much of you do they know?"

"They're all at Michael's. Like you know they were at the party and saw me transform…and you use your powers…they didn't really believe it until I told them they weren't seeing things. They've been avid YouTubers since then as well. Apparently, we've gone viral, Honey."

She put her hands on his cheeks.

"You know it's really not that funny…**Honey**," she emphasized the word with annoyance. "This is serious, Dante."

"Honestly I'm just happy they at know more than our other Q and A sessions. Michael is actually taking it pretty well."

"Pretty well?"

He caught the disbelief in her voice.

"Yes, pretty well, Claire. It's actually one of the main factors in why I even agreed to do this in the first place."

"What are the others?" she dropped her hands.

"You."

She rose a brow.

"That's it," he shrugged.

She finally smiled.

"You're such a ham," she pushed his face back with her hand.

He got a giggle out of her when he licked her palm. She moved to sitting up and he backed off finally to sit across from her.

"Are we going to be okay leaving the barrier?"

"That's why we put it up, isn't it?" he reminded her.

"Just checking…"

She started to get up and he gently snatched her by the wrist. Pausing, she looked back at him with a raised brow.

"I thought maybe we could…continue what we were doing?"

"What? Waking me up? As you can clearly see Mr. Redgrave, I'm up and at it. Out with you while I change."

He quickly hopped off the bed and ran over to clothes she brought with her and started sifting through the piles. He pulled out a pair of pink panties and a matching bra and held them up to her with his cheekiest smile yet.

"I think these are perfect! I'll help you put 'em on!"

Her face matched the garments.

"Pervert!"

He laughed and tossed them at her, where she let them fall without a move to catch them. Now she had her arms folded and hip to the side as she stared him down. His laughter stopped in his throat when he **finally** took in the full view of his girlfriend before him. The outfit she chose to wear to bed included shorts much shorter than she would ever wear in public, as they were maybe three to four inches down her legs. Drinking his way up her slender figure, the shirt she wore was a dark blue tank top that was short enough to show a little of her stomach. By far it was the most skin she had ever exposed before him. Sure they had gone swimming, but she had a two-piece suit with a skirt for bottoms and a top that covered her like a tank top. When it came to clothing herself, she was always very modest.

It was something he loved her for. And secretly he was grateful for a couple reasons. He wanted her all for himself, and this way kept other guys from ever seeing what was his. And the other was it kept him sane. But now he found himself faced with possibly one of the hardest challenges of his sanity she had yet to present. And it was painful once again because she lacked self-consciousness. His eyes were unable to move from her chest once he realized she wasn't wearing a bra. And so she stared at him while his eyes stared **at** her. She said his name a few times until she moved her hands to her hips. Bad move, cause now she was exposing all to him without really exposing all to him. It was complicated…what else was new with these two?

"Dante!"

He shook, her shouts finally reaching him and his eyes jerked up to meet hers.

"What?"

He stuttered out a few sounds and his eyes fell back down to her chest. Thankfully, she folded her arms again. She was finding her boyfriend's sudden lack of words rather confusing. She studied him longer, even passing a glance behind her to see if what had him so intrigued wasn't her. Finding nothing, she looked back at him and finally realized his eyes weren't meeting hers. Give it another minute…and she finally froze. She looked down slowly and then shot him a death glare.

**"YOU IDIOT!"**

He really came to when her hands came to life with the light of the powers that had set countless demons straight…not to mention his perverted character. In a flash, he shot past her and off the balcony. She killed her energy and crossed her arms over her chest, still feeling exposed.

"That stupid…gah! I'm gonna **kill** him! Jerk! STUPID DANTE!"

She dressed quickly, really not wanting to stay bare very long if God forbid anything else like that was gonna happen. It was a light blue sundress with straps that tied above her shoulders. It was form fitting around her torso but slightly fanned out past the hips with one side of the skirt higher than the other, just past her knees. Her hair was in a ponytail to the side and up high, the end of her ponytail hanging mid-neck. She hastily made her way down the steps and to the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. It was now a quarter past 11. Sparda and Eva were in the kitchen as well and gave her a rather confused look when she entered.

"What did my son do this time?" Eva rested against the counter.

"Not gonna talk about it!" she brushed past them to the fridge.

They watched her cruise to making two eggs and a piece of toast topped with a tall glass of O J. She sat at the bar area and ate it with angry energy. Dante finally came back, peering around the corner to see the love of his life destroying her breakfast.

"Morning Dante!"

Claire froze. Dante froze (and his heart stopped a second). Sparda's warm greeting to his son was had the same effect of shooting a flair gun to give away a criminal's location. Claire turned steely eyes to the half-demon and he may have forgot how to breathe. He was dressed in a simple black shirt and jeans. He really didn't own anything flashy or decorated, from what she saw. Always solid colored shirts.

"Yes…morning, Dante. Let's talk…**Honey**."

He gulped and took two unwary steps out from the wall as she got up and put her dishes in the sink.

"Outside. **Now**."

She passed him, roughly nudging his side with her shoulder on her way out to the backyard. He turned back to his parents. Eva shrugged with a smile and Sparda rose his glass to him.

"Cheers, Son."

He shot him a look that was a cross between anger and fear. He looked out of place and out of luck.

"From experience, Dear…never keep a lady waiting," Eva gestured him to go with her hand.

He turned as stiff as a statue and headed out the back to see her standing in the middle of his backyard, arms folded, and facing him with a neutral face…but her eyes were beyond angry.

"Claire…Babygirl…is something wrong?"

Her eyes shot him a glare that sent a shudder down his spine. He was now standing maybe a yard from her.

"Wrong question," he added quickly. "All right," he put his hands up in surrender.

"Dante I **get** it...you wanna have sex with me."

His head came close to exploding, he choked and his face lit up more than any other time Claire could recall.

"I'm just a little flustered…and this morning…you're little staring problem…may have pissed me off a little more than it should…but at the same time…really? Try harder to control your hormones!"

His eyes were wide, watching his girl like she was a stranger. It was beyond rare for her to be so blunt and as off-the-hinges as she was showing. A natural disaster was going to occur tomorrow.

"That's all I really wanna say. You control yourself, I control myself…and we should be just fine **waiting until marriage**."

He swallowed hard and nodded quickly.

"Good...that's all I wanted to say."

Without another word she walked up to him and caught him completely off guard. His reactions were second to almost none, but after he heard his girlfriend bluntly talk about sex and her temper flaring…it may have numbed his reaction time. Claire landed a cool punch right to the side of his face. She was even nice enough to spice it with some of her energy. He flew a ways then came to a stop after dragging through some earth. He stared up at the clear sky with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. The girl he loved was certainly on fire today. Stepping into his view, she looked down at him with a smile that shook him a little.

"I'm better now. Let's go see your friends."

"Claire…you will be the death of me."

He laid there a moment longer, covering his eyes with his arm as he tried to breathe himself back to a calm state. Nothing like a good rollercoaster ride late in the morning.

"We don't wanna be late…"

He laughed at her persistence and shook his head, "You really are something. Damn girl."

He heard her give a sound of annoyance to his swear and finally got up, slowly, and folded his arms.

"Now I gotta say something."

She mimicked him, folding her arms, and gave him a look that told him whatever it was, he had better be smart and careful.

"You can hit me after this, I'm fine with that, but I gotta say it."

"Dante," she warned.

"It's not…bad," he started. "But I have to correct you."

She waited in silence.

"You said "have sex with you"," he air quoted.

Her face twitched at his words, and he knew he better elaborate quickly before he was sent across the ground again.

"But that's completely wrong…actually it kinda hurt my feelings."

Now she was looking at him in confusion. With caution, he walked up to her and took her hands, unfolding her arms, and holding them between them.

"To say it like that…I don't like it at all. Some day, Claire…I'm going to make l—"

Her blush came back, and she adverted her eyes from his and smacked a hand over his mouth.

"Dante! Why do you have to say such things…idiot!" She wanted to be anywhere but there with him looking at her like he was…and continuing to say and do things that made her squirm in her skin.

He removed her hand from his mouth and gave a laugh.

"Because it's true…and I want you to know that, okay?"

She reluctantly nodded, still not looking at him. In a flash, he maneuvered her up into his grasp across his arms.

"If you were wondering at all, Sparda and Andrew said it's okay for us to go. They'll hold the fort down but we shouldn't be long just in case. This will be the longest I've traveled with you like this so if you ever need a break, let me know."

She was quiet and moved so she was tucked closer to him, reaching her left arm around him and the other clutching at his shirt. He kissed her head and took off.

Michael's house was in Cannon, the next town over, and he was one of the fortunate people who didn't have to pack up and move out when the barrier went up. Because of that, Dante's four other close friends bunked up with him.

Dante slowed to a stop once they reached the barrier. From their standpoint, they could see everything on the outside, but people on the outside could not see what was inside. It was another altercation to the barrier Sparda made in Claire's slumber. He reasoned it would be best if the people looking in couldn't see the demons if they were to come up to it, but it would be good for them to see what was happening on the outside.

Claire and Dante had to admit their shock when they saw the section they stopped at completely surrounded by hoards of people. Apparently it had turned in to quite the thing to see, thanks to the fuel the media was no doubt driving. There were cars and media vans all over, with some reporters doing spots with it in the background. It was very unusual for Claire to walk up to the barrier and have people looking in and touching it but not actually seeing her.

"Wow…they really can't see me," she waved her hand in front of a guy across from her. "This is very weird."

Dante had let her down a moment as he walked along the wall of energy, looking at all the commotion waiting for them on the other side. The best way to describe it would be like watching a muted TV, because they also couldn't hear anything the people said.

"So how do we get out without causing a scene? How far down does it go?" she turned to him as he continued to pace the wall for an empty spot.

"Gosh it looks like the whole thing is surrounded…but at the same time I'm not surprised."

She agreed, if she were they, she'd pay it a visit too.

"I think I can move fast enough for them not to see me," he started. "But I want to make sure I don't get caught on anybody's video camera."

"Good idea," she agreed. "But I'm not seeing any openings…"

They searched a little longer, and Claire noticed they were pushing the late card now. They had 10 minutes.

"Claire looks like we'll need to do a roundabout way, here."

He picked her up with ease and did a few large leaps and they started to assume the whole barrier was surrounded.

"Can't really blame 'em," Claire mentioned again. "You don't see that everyday."

They didn't find an opening, but they found a spot that was less infested than others, but it took them almost halfway back to his house's side.

"Hang on tight…once I go I'm cruising. One I wanna make a clean break and two…we're almost late."

She nodded and assumed a vice grip around him, with him taking his arms tightly around her in check. He jumped back a ways before sprinting at speeds she had yet to experience while in his grasp. They burst through the top of the barrier with an amazing leap. The moment he hit the ground he booked it out of there, through combinations of leaps and sprints. A few people turned around at the sudden noise beside them and only saw dust clouds in the field they were standing in, from where he made his escape.

Claire shut her eyes, the wind at this speed made them dry out quickly and rather irritated.

"Almost there!" he noticed her wincing.

To bear the last stretch, she simply turned her head in to the protection his body always offered and waited for him to stop. And he did, much sooner than she thought. He landed with grace and she withdrew her head to see a rather large tree fort in the large tree in front of her.

"Woah," she squinted against the sun as she peered up.

It was at the top of the large tree that looked to be on par with the third story of a building. There was a rickety makeshift spiral staircase leading up. The fort actually looked like a small house, with doors and even windows to boot. Not to mention an actual overhanging roof with shingles. At the peak was a small deck-like area that she figured would be perfect for viewing the whole forest.

"That's amazing…Dante where are we?"

"Hey guys."

His answer, not to her, caused her eyes to fall immediately to the five guys they were to meet. Michael, Andrew, Caleb, Keenan, and Aaron. And from the way they were looking at the two of them, Dante had caught them off guard. Not every day your friends literally drop out of the sky. Like stated before, it had been a while since Claire had seen them, but it looked like nothing really changed. They were all roughly the same age, in or around 18 and 19.

Michael McKenna had black spikey hair and teal eyes. Built like an athlete at 6 foot 2, 180 pounds of well-taken-care-of muscle. His complexion of a solid summer's suntan showed he was outdoors often.

Andrew Cole had spikey blonde hair and his eyes were a mixture of amber and gold. He was the tallest of his friends, at 6 foot 4 and weighed in at roughly 200 pounds. Also lean and tan.

Caleb Greene sported a patch of wavy and disheveled black hair with blue eyes. The shortest of the bunch, he came in at 6 foot, 170 or so pounds. He had a fairer complexion that never really changed regardless of the season, around a light cream color.

Keenan O'Brien, befitting of his Irish background, touted brown curls that went to below just ear-height. He had green eyes and was around 6 foot 1 and 170 like Caleb. His skin fluctuated from pale to lightly colored depending on when you caught him in the year. Claire particularly liked his faint but loveable Irish lilt when he spoke. He could either hide it well, or bring it out in full force.

Finally, Aaron Brier. He was 6 foot 1 and about 175 with a tan complexion and blue eyes. Average in build, not toned but not out of shape; a normal somewhere in between. He had an inch of sandy blonde hair he chose to spike up with his hair care product of choice.

Seeing as nobody was moving between the two parties, Claire patted Dante's chest for him to let her down. Doing so, she brushed her skirt and readjusted herself after the travel before giving them a wave.

"Hi you guys," she gave a shy smile.

"Hey Claire…Devin," Michael started.

"Dante," her boyfriend corrected before finally moving.

He walked past her, putting a pat on her shoulder.

"Dante," Michael corrected quickly. "That's right…better give us some grace, man."

Much to Claire's surprise, even though Dante told her Michael was taking it well, he walked up to the half-demon and extended his hand. Dante gave a genuine half smile and gave his friend his hand, where they raised them up between themselves and patted each other on the back. Great man-hug. She was able to watch in happiness and thankfulness of Dante's friend's acceptance of him; they all gave him an embrace. Dante turned back to Claire.

"Don't worry, they don't bite."

She gave a huff and annoyed expression to his comment and headed up to them finally. Putting his arm around Claire he turned back to them.

"She's just a little surprised how well you guys are taking it."

Michael gestured for a hug and she broke free of her boyfriend to oblige, and then gave each of them a quick one.

"Her friends were a completely different story," Dante started. "I thought Jordan was gonna kill me...quite a few times too."

"Yeah," Michael gave a shrewd smile. "That sounds like her…"

"Half-demon, huh?" Keenan poked the side of his arm. "Ya look human to me," he joked in his Irish lilt. "Gave us a bloody hell of a show at the lake…actually both of you did."

"We can't stay long," said Dante. "Let's go chat," he nodded his head up, motioning to the tree fort.

As they walked up, Dante explained to her they were in the backyard of Michael's house. His parent's were avid hunters and owned a large chunk of the backwoods countryside. Their house was about an acre away from where they were. They decided it was better to meet away from the parents for now.

The inside of the tree fort surprised Claire. While it looked worn and rickety on the outside, the inside had furniture, rugs and even drapes on the two windows.

"Wow," she started. "This is really cool, Michael."

"Thanks. My home away from home."

The furniture was a sectional the was against two walls, creating an 'L' shape, and it could easily seat all of them plus a couple more. Dante gave Claire a jump when he swooped her up and plopped down, laying her across his arms and lap, her feet hanging over the edge of the couch.

"You guy's still the same, huh?" Aaron commented on the action.

They all looked at him.

"Of the long list of things we weren't sure of, you guys still being together was one of them," he elaborated.

"Actually I'd say we're better than before all this happened," Claire answered. "By no means has it been easy, but we've really grown to trust each other I'd say," she looked up at him to verify her statements.

"I'm very thankful," Dante nodded. "She's accepted everything about me from the start."

His friends were wearing smiles as they watched the couple.

"We're really happy to hear that," Keenan laughed. "Cause based on the news and YouTube universe, it's you guys against the world."

"Yeah we've heard we're pretty famous," Dante shook his head. "Life's great."

"So you're still inside the bubble-thing?" Aaron asked.

Dante and Claire exchanged looks.

"You mean the barrier?" Dante corrected.

"Yeah…whatever…that thing….didn't know it had an official name," he continued, hands up on mock-apology at their correction.

"Well yeah. That's why she put it up," he patted Claire on the head, who in turn gave him a lame look.

There was a silence as all his friends stared at Claire with amazement.

"Do you like it?" she asked as a joke.

"So are you…like him?" Michael ignored her small quip. "Half-demon? I mean we saw what you did at the lake too…"

He looked to Dante as he asked the question, both to clarify if Claire was the same and to verify if he got the term correct.

"Nope she's human…I guess. Honestly we are sure what we've got here," he gave her a quick bounce and she shot him a glare. "She has her own unique abilities…but at the same time I'm absolutely sure she's not a demon of any kind."

"Wait how can you be sure if you aren't sure?" Keenan said the question like he was testing it out at the same time.

Much to all of their amusement, Claire and Dante both shrugged at the same time.

"You two are messed up," the lilt came back out. "Perfect for each other, ya."

Finally the whole lot could enjoy a bit of laughter amidst the more serious than casual meeting.

"Maybe this is too big of a question," Aaron started. "But honestly…what the hell is going on? Seems like you two are in the middle of something really freakin' unbelievable."

Claire watched intently as her boyfriend retold the story of his family roots. Starting with his full demon father and human mother having him and his brother. And from there Vergil stole the story with his change of heart and intent to kill. His friends were floored. One, Dante's own father, a demon, which they didn't know, was king of hell, which they couldn't believe. Two, he had a brother, which they didn't know, who was actually his twin brother and trying to kill him, which they couldn't believe. Three, Sanctus was an insanely powerful foe who wanted to kill everyone, but all the focus seemed to be on Claire lately, which they couldn't understand. Four, they were the ones that decided to evacuate the town and it turned out the two demons that had done it were Dante's father and friend, which they thought was a joke, which it wasn't. And five, Dante and Claire had seemingly, from their words, gestures and actions, gotten used to all of this as if it was the new normal, which they couldn't justify.

"Bloody. Hell," Keegan was the first to speak after a short silence befell the group.

"Holy s**t!" Aaron's jaw was hung. "This is some cinematic fantasy-land s**t!"

Dante had to hold in a laugh at the slight frown Claire displayed, but managed to hide just as fast, at Aaron's choice of words.

Another patch of silence.

"Can you…win? I mean…my God…if you can't what the hell happens?" Caleb dared voice an uncertainty they all shared.

"We…haven't got that far yet," Dante admitted while Claire only nodded slightly. "One day at a time."

"And what about your brother, man?" he pressed. "What if he keeps trying to kill you? Will you kill him?"

Dante flinched a little when he felt Claire tense considerably. Her hand resting on his shoulder subconsciously gripped a handful of his shirt. Her eyes were looking at nowhere in particular, but where slightly lidded in an emotion he couldn't read. He could only guess what she was feeling at that comment. He guessed a number of things.

"One day at a time," was the only thing he could think to say, and he said it slowly, solemnly, and as carefully as he could.

When Claire moved out of his arms and stood up, he bit his lower lip in concern.

"I just need…just need some air…a moment…" she poorly pieced together a sentence as she quickly left the tree house.

They watched the door where she left until they heard the sound of her stepping down the stairs come to an end, and looked back at their friend.

"I'm sorry…" Caleb started. "…I shouldn't have said that…I didn't realize…"

Dante's face was pained as he resituated himself on the couch, letting out a long sigh. He wanted nothing more than to chase her down right now…but knew if he truly wanted to do anything for her right that was good…he would give her the privacy she needed.

"No man…Caleb…it's alright," the half-demon said finally as he ran a hand over his face. "You don't know all the details…just…it's fine."

"You're not against the idea to keep her safe…are you Dante," Michael didn't ask so much as he stated the comment.

Dante laughed and put his face in his hands, blowing out some air in a mixed laugh and sigh of frustration.

"Michael you really know me…"

"And she's completely against it…even if she dies," Keenan filled in the rest.

The silence he gave was the answer.

"She's…incredible…I mean…gosh I don't know how else to put it…a handful, that too," Dante gave a laugh that lacked the smile behind it. "I can't hate her for that…actually I can't take my eyes off her when she stands so firmly planted in what she believes."

"Damn boy…you're hopeless," Michael nudged his friend. "She's got you."

"Yeah, yeah," he laughed and shook off his friend. "I'm not gonna deny it, guys."

They were happy for him.

"But to open up my soul for a moment," he hid his face in his hands and behind his hair as he propped his elbows on his knees and looked down. "I want nothing more than to keep her safe and happy. But recently safe and happy haven't necessarily come together. She firmly believes that my brother has some good left in him. Honestly, ever since he left the family and became a jack*** I've wanted him dead."

There was something different about being told that Dante hated his brother over hearing him state he wanted him dead. His friends were pretty floored over the blunt statement of how their friend could even contemplate killing another, let alone his own brother.

"But…but damnit…Claire…she's so incredible…she even has me believing that he can change. I've never known her to be wrong. I never imagined anyone would make me think otherwise about him after everything he's done."

He let out a long sigh and continued after a moments pause.

"But even if he doesn't change I'm stuck. I know how much she cares about him. She cares about him because he is my brother. She doesn't want me to get hurt. And because she cares about him, I can't bring myself to kill him. I can't hurt her like that. I don't want to be the one that takes away her happiness."

Dante remained in his position when he felt Michael put a hand on his shoulder from beside him.

"Wow, Dante. There's so much we don't know about you…but we've always known you to have a big heart. I don't think you're in the wrong to think like you do. And I have to side with Claire on this one. I don't want you to have to kill your own brother."

All his friends nodded.

"True dat," Keenan added.

Dante finally looked up, "Thanks guys. I've missed hangin' out with you. I guess Claire understood there was something that only you guys could give me, and that's why she was so insistent on coming here."

"What's that mean?" Andrew rose a brow.

"No offense…but after all the hell I went through trying to explain who I am to Claire's parents and friends, I didn't want to do it again. But Claire found my phone and saw that you were constantly trying to get a hold of me and she really pushed me to call you back and see you guys."

They laughed.

"We see who's the brains of this operation," Aaron chided. "Good thing you have her."

"Guess we really owe her a thank you," Caleb added. "Or we may never have seen you again!"

They shared a laugh and Dante cast his eyes out the window.

"You should tell her this," Michael nudged him again.

"No way man," he started. "That's…it's embarrassing. I'd sound like a damn pansy."

"If you don't tell her you're a pansy," Keenan tossed a pillow at him. "Such a tough guy."

"Seriously…I have a reputation to uphold you know."

They looked at their friend like he was an idiot.

"Oh yeah…Mr. Demon," Caleb mocked. "Ooo such a manly man."

"Guys," he stood up. "I'll be right back…or maybe not," he shot them annoyed looks.

They laughed him out of the room as he swiftly left the fort and leaped over the side. Landing, he calmed himself enough to sense her out and found he really didn't have to, since he could see her not far off, sitting on a fallen tree. He was slow and careful as he approached her, wishing he could deafen the sounds of his steps. On the silence doubled with the atmosphere of approaching her, his feet walking on leaves and snapping twigs was rather obnoxious.

"Claire?"

She turned back to him and, as he figured, she was crying. Her hand was over her mouth as if she wanted to muffle her cries.

He knelt before her and wiped at her tears.

"Ah please don't cry, Claire. You know I hate seeing you upset."

She sent him for a loop when she shook her head and took his hand in both of hers…then flashing him a gorgeous smile.

"It seems my hearing has gotten better too," she started. "What you said back there…about Vergil…everything you said…did you really mean it?"

It took a moment to register with him. And that's when the blush hit his face head-on. He was so startled by the change in events, from comforting her to being stunned by her, he actually fell back on his rear-end.

"Wait you actually heard all that!"

"It made me so happy!" she dropped to her knees in front of him.

Without warning she flung herself into him, arms securely wrapping around his frame.

"Gosh that's embarrassing," he covered his face with his hand, very aware how hot his cheeks were getting. "I just can't catch a break today."

She squeezed him harder.

"It made me really, really happy, though," she repeated quietly.

"That's not the point," he kept his eyes anywhere but hers. "Ah man…"

She released him and studied him a moment, trying to figure out what she needed to say to calm his embarrassment. Then she recalled mainly why he was so against her hearing his declarations.

"I thought it was very manly of you!" she practically shouted.

"Oh God!" he shouted and fell back to the ground and rolled over, face down in the dirt. "You hear me God? Kill me now!"

"Hey!" she shouted in a mixture of scolding for the comment and upset at how her attempts to calm were failing horribly.

Back up on the small deck on the tree fort, his friends had decided to see what all the commotion was about. Now they were watching a rather amusing scene play out before them with the couple. For the most part they could hear bits and pieces, but it was how they were acting that was the best part.

"You know…if the world could see this so called "demon", they may not be as terrified of all this crap going on," Caleb said with a laugh. "Honestly…what a guy."

"Devin will always be an idiot, I guess," Aaron shrugged.

"Dante," the other four corrected him in unison without breaking their eyes from the entertainment.

"…right…" he said without much emotion. "That's gonna take a while."

**November 1****st ****2012 2:25 A.M.**


	37. A New Clue

Claire had only continued to fail horribly at easing her boyfriend's peaking embarrassment. So much, that at one point he took off running to get away from her, lest he really would die from a shattered ego. She actually pursued him for a little while, continuing to claim she was really glad to hear his thoughts. However, her shouts of reassurance shortly changed to claims he was acting like a total idiot. And she may have thrown a few death threats in there towards the end. His friends came down from their perch and Dante hid behind them, while Claire stood a ways away, catching her breath and mumbling insults and disappointments his way.

The turnaround from there was pretty funny. Because of his subtle display of power in avoiding Claire, his friends wanted to see more of what set him apart from 100% human. To be blunt, the following actions were ridiculous. His friends cheered him on like benched NBA players when one of their own makes an insanely nice dunk. They were hootin', hollerin' and jumping all over Dante as he broke fallen trees in half with punches and kicks, threw said fallen trees high up into the air before soccer kicking them into pieces, uprooting other trees and giving a rather goofy/proud smile when his friends asked to touch his presented and flexed arm muscles. Truly, somebody destroyed the testosterone dam, and there was no relief from the flood in sight.

Claire's attention was soon taken, though, when a flash shot across her vision. It was quick, and it made her jump a moment. She gathered herself and glanced about the forest, looking for anything that could have caused it. Settling down, and assuming it was nothing, she would only watch the guys a moment longer before it happened again. This one was more intense, and lasted longer, and she abruptly stood in confusion.

_'Help.'_

The sudden voice, clear as if it were spoken past her ear, made her gasp and whirl around, expecting somebody to be there, to only find the forest. It gave her a chill and she hugged her arms to herself as she turned back to the man party to see if they heard it too. Well, clearly not, as they were still jumping all over the place.

_'Stop.'_

She jumped again and spun about. It was a bit frightening. It sounded like somebody was literally saying it into her ear. And the tone; it was a man's voice and he was very desperate and very pained. It wrenched her heart to hear it, doubled with the fact that she had no idea where it was coming from. She started to panic. The change in her emotions was enough to finally draw Dante's attention, as he could sense the sudden contrast. He suddenly dropped the dead trunk he was about to soccer-kick to further impress his friends, which caused them to jump back startled.

"Claire?"

With a quick and distanced leap, he was beside her in an instant with his hands on her shoulders trying to get her to look at him. Her hand was to her heart and her face was covered in fear and confusion as she looked down but nowhere in particular, trying to figure out her situation.

"Hey," came Dante's voice again, this time more firm to get her attention. "Claire, what's wrong?"

"Did you guys hear anything just now?"

He paused and turned to his friends, silently repeating her question to them with a raised brow and uncertain expression. She immediately found the question stupid. Of course they didn't, they were too busy being guys to have heard that.

"I heard a guys voice, like it was right here," she pointed to her ear, "say 'help' and 'stop'."

Dante stilled and slowly scanned the area, more so sensing for something than looking for it.

"I don't feel anything…or anyone," he looked at her again.

She shook her head again, and suddenly, she felt tired and a little sick. Her head was slightly pounding and she felt a little nauseous. A cold shiver made its way up her spine.

"Dante I don't…I'm sorry, but I think I need to go lie down."

"All right," he started rubbing her back. "And no need to apologize," he laughed. "I'll go let the guys know we need to—"

… … … … … … … … … … …

"I'm sure. She's been through a lot lately. My mom checked her out. She says she's fine…Yeah. And it's not the first time she's conked out on us….I'll do my best….you too. Claire knows best. It was definitely something I needed. Stay safe out there too, man. Even with that barrier, I wouldn't guarantee anybody's safety…yep, see ya."

Dante put the phone on his bedside table and looked down at his, once again, unconscious girlfriend. Her sudden collapse had them all freaking out. Eva said she didn't have a fever, but rather she felt a little cold to the touch; all in all, nothing sinister.

When he sat on the bed, it amused him that her eyes suddenly shot open and she blinked multiple times at the ceiling.

"Welcome back."

She shot to her elbows and stared at him in surprise of being in a bed with him beside her.

"What—"

"Happened?" he finished for her. "No idea."

He reached forward and gave her forehead a smack with is palm.

"What the heck?" she glared at him.

"You fainted….**again**."

"Fainted…?"

"You should tell me when you're not feeling up to something, Claire," he sighed. "I was fine waiting to see them some other time. Typical you," he stood up and picked up a glass of water before handing it to her. "Always thinking of others before yourself."

"I was fine," she said suddenly, shaking her head.

Slowly, what happened before she passed out came back to her. She remembered what she heard and felt.

"I swear to God I heard someone talking," she looked at him. "Like they were right here," she put her hand over her right ear. "And that was also when I started to feel bad."

He let out a sigh.

"It's never nothing with you," he shook his head as she took a drink finally. "Sparda said the same thing when I talked to him about it."

She swallowed and then gave an upset expression.

"How long was I out this time?" she droned.

He laughed.

"Not that long. It's only 2ish."

"Thank God," she sighed and fell back against the pillows after putting the glass back. "If I pulled another 3-day-Claire's-a-weakling episode I was gonna be really mad."

He gave an amused laugh.

"Three-day-Claire's-a-weakling episode?" he repeated with a laugh. "You're ridiculous."

With little effort and grace in the motion, he took her by her hands and lifted her to her feet beside him, taking her close.

"Sparda wants to see you. Do you feel up to it?"

"Carry me."

He laughed and obliged her demand, "As you wish."

"Thanks. I feel lazy today."

"Just tired…I hope. Honestly it's never just nothing with you," he repeated with disdain.

She shrugged, "I'm a freak. What can I say?"

He scrunched his face a little at the comment.

"Definitely not a freak, Claire."

"Ah you're right," she said in a sarcastic tone. "We're not exactly sure **what** I am yet, are we?"

He shook his head with a smile at her silly behavior.

"You're my girlfriend."

She let out a sigh and turned her face into his chest.

"Ahhhhh. That explains everything."

He burst out laughing and reached up to ruffle her pink tresses.

"Such a silly girl you are today."

They reached the library and headed in, where Sparda was reading, as usual, at his desk. Marking his page when they arrived, he stood up as Dante reached him and let Claire down.

"Dante says you're hearing voices?" he started, sitting on the side of the desk.

She rolled her eyes.

"Ya know…when you guys say it like that…I really do sound like a nut case."

Sparda chuckled.

"Forgive me," he put his hands up.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before heading over and plopping down into his chair.

"I don't know how else to put it," she started. "It just literally sounded like a person was speaking right into my hear. They sounded like they were afraid or something…maybe scared?" she did her best to recount the emotion she 'heard.'

She leaned onto the desk and messed with the book Sparda was reading while she tried to recount more.

"And then you said you started to feel unwell?" he asked.

She shrugged and finally picked the book up and half-heartedly flipped through it to busy herself while she visualized the moments before she fainted.

"I felt lightheaded…like I was overwhelmed by the voice or something, I dunno."

The book in her hand was slowly gaining more and more of her attention.

"And that was when you passed out?"

"Yep."

Sparda looked out the large windows in thought.

"That is odd."

No answer from Claire this time, as she had stopped playing with the book and was now rather interested in its pages. To say it was old may have been an understatement. The binding was nearly destroyed and the pages required more care than she was giving them in the beginning to flip through. They were beyond yellowed and the writing looked more than ancient. She shut it quick to look at the cover and saw it nothing but blank brown leather. Opening it again she read through random pages. It was set up like a diary, with each new page dated and signed at the bottom with the same signature.

"What **is** this?" she asked finally, holding it up to Sparda.

"Looks like death doesn't it?" he laughed. "To be honest I'm not sure what it is. I've figured it's a diary of some sort but past that, no clue. I've had it forever."

She knew that when Sparda said 'forever' he meant it more earnestly than others.

"When did you get this?" she went back to carefully turning its pages.

"Like most of these books, I've lost track. But if I had to guess, I'd say around half a century after the final date in it."

Turning to the back at his answer, she found the final date to be July 21st, 1400. She rolled her eyes.

"Still can't believe how old you really are…" she started, "and looks like the anniversary is coming up," she joked. "About two weeks."

He laughed, "Shall we celebrate?"

"You're always reading that," Dante finally spoke up. "Like being a creeper and reading other people's diaries?

Sparda rolled his eyes at his son.

"At least I read, Son," he gave him a sly grin. "Being strong isn't everything. Gotta be smart too."

"Sorry. Never wanted to be a damn Hooked On Phonics junkie," he folded his arms and leaned on the desk.

"Dante," Claire's warning voice reached his ears as she continued to sift through the pages.

"Yeah, yeah," he looked out the window. "Pardon my Danish," he said in a teasing tone.

She only smiled at his reply. Sparda reached over and gave his arm a shove, getting the half-demon's eyes on his.

"She's got you pretty good, eh?"

"Sparda," Claire's warning voice hit him that time, and it was a little sharper than before.

She glanced his way to see him gesture his mouth was zipped shut. She gave the book a final look-through and put it down.

"Sorry I can't give more info on what happened earlier," she stretched.

"No worries," he waved it off. "If it does happen again, let me know. We're still trying to guess what you are after all," he laughed.

Claire gave a toothless grin and rolled her eyes at the demon before turning back to Dante.

"Not that I like being stationary, if nothing happens the rest of the day I'm fine with that. I'm gonna go read."

"Wanna read in my room?" he suggested with a sly smile.

She gave him a dead-panned look and he frowned.

"Oh come on, I meant just so I could keep you company."

"I like reading without distractions."

"I'll be good," he put his hands up in surrender.

She studied him a moment.

"Promise?"

"Woof."

She giggled and let him pick her up and take her back up stairs where she grabbed her Bible and was taken into his room.

"Can I be your chair?" he asked when she positioned herself up against the pillows of his spacious and comfy bed.

"You're ridiculous. If you can be a very good chair, we'll see how long I let you."

She scooted forward and in a flash, he was behind her. She tucked her back against his chest as his legs fell bent at the knee on either side of her. Reaching down, he put his arms around her and rested his face close to her hair, one of the best places to take in her scent.

He lasted longer than she gave him credit for. But slowly, his fingers and hands started to wander. He played with her hair, running his hands through its softness, wrapping a few strands here and there. Then he moved it to her back, exposing her neck, where he slowly buried his face into the crook and breathed in and out in content. That shot a wave up her spine and she gently shook him off, without a word or glance away from her pages. He inwardly laughed and continued once more. This time, he placed a lingering kiss on her skin before gently giving her a love bite.

"Dante," she finally spoke. "Chairs don't move," she reminded him of his purpose and promise.

"Didn't I tell you?" he started. "I'm a love seat."

She actually burst out laughing despite her quiet nature earlier and shook her head, before looking back at him to see him giving her a gorgeous smile.

"You're such a goof," she rolled her eyes. "Love seat…really?"

He brought his right hand around and touched her cheek furthest from him before directing her face up to meet his in a kiss. He attempted to deepen it but she broke off almost right away and turned her face away, but he caught the blush and smile on her features.

"Who said I was done reading?" she brought her Bible back up.

He frowned.

"Hey…that's not nice," he poked her shoulder repeatedly. "We haven't had and us time lately."

Claire actually lowered her book at the statement and let out a sigh, letting her head fall back to his chest.

"You all right?" his brow rose in concern.

She nodded mutely and then put her hands over her face with another exhale.

"We have a lot on our plates right now, you know?" she dropped her arms. "Dante…can we even win?"

He squeezed her tighter, hearing the confliction and subtle fear in her voice. She continued.

"What does winning even mean? We've been so busying literally running all over the place and now that we're just sitting here…it really starts to soak in what we've got ourselves into…it's overwhelming."

"Claire…are you sure you're okay with all this?"

Not the answer she was expecting, she relieved herself of his grip and turned to face him on her knees.

"I mean…you're in this mess because of me…cause you really say you're okay dating a half-demon."

She gave him an un-amused expression before reaching down to take one of his hands in both of hers.

"Really? You choose to ask that now? That question is like, 1,000 years too late, Dante."

"I'm serious here," he frowned.

"I am too, Dante," she gave a smile before giving him a kiss to his forehead.

Pulling back, she held her ring up before his eyes. "Do you even get what this means? It means someday you are going to marry me. Trust me when I say there is no other place I'd rather be, than right here with you. No matter how bad it gets, I love you…idiot," she finished with a giggle.

He smiled at her answer and pulled her to him in a hug.

"Thank you, Claire…and as for your questions…we have no choice but to take this one day at a time, right?"

He felt her nod.

"Dante…you don't have to answer if you don't want to…but about what you said about your brother to your friends earlier…"

She felt him slightly tense but continued regardless, "Did you really mean that? You never gave me an answer," her voice had a hint of annoyance as she recalled their little chasing episode when he found out she had heard him.

He was silent.

"Like I said you don't have to—"

"No," he said gently. "Just give me a minute here."

She shut her mouth immediately just pleased to know he didn't just shut it down. It was quite the turnaround from the earlier questioning.

"I'm torn."

Her eyes grew slightly wide at the statement.

"I love you more than anything…and I know you understand that. And for so long I've hated him for what he did to our family when he left. And now he's back and you've been dragged into this unbelievably stupid hatred of his. I have many reasons to want him dead."

His idle hand reached up and gently stroked her hair.

"And yet…you've started to convince me there's hope for him…and perhaps to show me I can't want to actually kill my own brother. It's so damn complicated."

"It is damn complicated," she repeated, much to his astonishment.

She pulled back and flashed him a smile, "But I'm so glad to hear that from you."

"You just swore…and no scolding of me?" he paused. "…whiplash!"

Claire giggled when he reached forward and kissed her cheek. When he pulled back she placed her hands on his handsome face and took a moment to really admire the person who had her heart.

"I really love you."

Her words were a hushed whisper, as he had put mere inches between them before closing the gap altogether. He pushed her to her back as they couple shared an intimate kiss that seemed like one shared after being apart for days. He bent down and kissed her collar bone, getting her hands to clench and grab the front of his shirt, a shy gasp leaving her lips. The half-demon brought his arms around her and maneuvered both of them to their sides in an instant, before draping a blanket over top of them.

"Just a little longer…let's stay like this."

She gave a cute hum back in response and snuggled herself as close as she could to him. Minutes ticked by, and Claire's mind was free to wander to a variety of things. She recalled the events of her day, meeting Dante's friends again, to the declaration he gave, and just now to its confirmation. She wondered about the voice she had heard, and how it made her feel when it spoke to her. Then it was peculiar to her when she thought about the book Sparda was reading. Most certainly it was an odd book, but maybe not deserving of a second thought by her. Giving it a little more thought, however, started to spell otherwise for Claire. Her hands and curiosity to touch and wonder about that book maybe wasn't just a coincidence, or means of busying herself under Sparda's questioning. Hitting her all at once, she surprised her boyfriend but tensing a little before pulling back and sitting up on her arm.

"My gosh…"

"Claire?"

She looked at him with widened blue orbs.

"I think I know **exactly** what that book is."

**January 29****th****, 2013 12:18 a.m.**


	38. Omen

**This is a big one, my friends. Enjoy the suspense! **

"Are you ever going to answer me?"

Dante was finding it a task to keep up with Claire ever since she shot up and out of his room.

"Not sure how to explain it right now."

Ah, finally an answer…but not enough for him.

"Is everything okay, at least?"

"Maybe."

He sighed as they flew down the steps and bolted through the library doors. Sparda looked up with wide eyes when Claire was standing before him, and even wider eyes when she grabbed the book out of his hands.

"Claire?" he stood up. "What's all this about?"

She ignored him, much like she did Dante, and opened the old book up and scanned its pages.

"Son?" the demon looked past her to Dante who just sat on the desk with folded arms and a studious glance at his girlfriend.

"No. Freaking. Idea," he said precisely. "Not a clue."

So they watched her in silence as she took her time over the crumbling pages, taking more time with each new one she turned.

"My God…I think I **am** right," she finally looked at Sparda.

He blinked at her, nothing more.

"It took me a while…but I swear to God, this may be my great-however-many grandma's diary."

"What?" they both repeated in unison.

Dante repeated the word without much care, but Sparda was clearly very interested at the statement.

"I can't be 100% sure until I see them again…but I **swear** we have pages back at my house that look exactly like these in our attic."

"No kidding?" Sparda took the book back carefully. "Could you go get them?"

She watched as his interest in the matter kept swelling.

"I was planning on it…this is crazy if it's true!" she turned to Dante. "Okay if we go now?"

He sighed and unfolded his arms, "You ruined 'us' time for a genealogy project?"

She gave him a lame look and shook her head.

"Don't you think this will be cool to find out?"

He gave her no change in emotion, no blinks, not a thing, as he continued to look at her in disappointment of his time with her cut short. Stepping up to him, she grabbed him from behind his neck and crashed her lips to his for a few moments of bliss before pulling back waiting for him to pick her up so they could be on their way.

"There, that will tie you over. We can resume that later, I gotta know if this is for real!"

His mind whirled with the constant up and down from Claire today. And he had no idea what she just did, but that kiss made his heart race…what did she do differently on that one, he wondered?

"Wow."

She rose a brow of impatience as well as wonder for his reaction.

"What did you do just now?"

"Kiss you," she said obviously.

"…that was no ordinary kiss," he started. "…do it again."

She blushed and gave him a smack to the side of his head.

"W-why?" she stammered. "We're wasting time."

He grew a sly grin that she had learned to dread at times.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll take you, for another kiss like that."

"Why!" she repeated in embarrassment. "I didn't do anything different!"

He slid his thumb rather seductively across his bottom lip with a growing smile, "Oh…I'd say otherwise."

Her face continued to cherry-up as she clenched her fists and teeth together; he merely stood waiting. Sparda shook his head with a smile at his youngest child…truly there were a lot of things he had passed on to his son. He got up with a stretch and slowly walked to the double doors.

"I'll give you guys some privacy. Looks like this is gonna get hot. See you soon, Claire. I look forward to seeing what you find."

"Sparda!" Claire's face was at its limit.

She reluctantly looked at Dante, where he had now moved to sitting on the desk with his arms folded. He was sporting a half-teasing, half-expecting smirk.

"You're the one in a hurry," he reminded her. "I've got all. Day. Long," he stretched each of his words.

"I can just go myself," she said matter-of-factly.

"You could," he shrugged. "But we both know who is faster. I don't mind catching you and dragging you back each time."

She was practically fuming at his point.

"Is it really that bad to kiss your boyfriend with a little **passion**?" he said the word with seduction.

"It's embarrassing!" she nearly screamed.

"Nobody's gonna see you do it."

"NOT THE POINT!" she grabbed his shirt collar and shook him. "Stop teasing me!"

He laughed and freed her hands from his shirt.

"One and done, Claire. It'll be over before you know it."

Now slightly shaking from her growing rage, embarrassment, and desire to put her boyfriend through a couple stages of hell, she glared a moment longer and finally reached acceptance she was going to have to kiss the idiot. She stepped up, face nearing the tint of first degree sunburn, and put her hands on either side of his neck.

"Jerk."

She kissed him quickly, not being able to stand his eyes bearing into her any longer. Before really going at it to appease his perverted nature, she actually grabbed his waist, lifted him up and pushed him back onto the desk before pushing him down with the force of her kiss. His eyes flew wide, then, for two reasons. The sudden movement caught him off guard, and then the same feeling she gave him with the last kiss hit him ten-fold. Pulling back, he looked up at her with millions questions shining through his bewilderment. She had her hand fisted over her mouth, eyes looking out the large window. He sat up slowly, gently touching his lips, before a very accomplished grin overcame his face.

"I was right."

Her brow twitched at his words.

"You **did** know what you were doing that first time."

She shot him a second's glance, "It was supposed to appease you because I interrupted our 'us time'," she said the term with annoyance. "I should have known with you…pervert."

Claire had put a little of her energy into the first kiss they shared in hopes it would make him happy enough to hurry and take her to her house. Instead it backfired.

"Can we go now?" she grumbled.

He whisked her up and away without a word, but Claire couldn't shake the annoyance of his still prideful smile. She quickly evaded him once they landed on her balcony and rushed through her house to the attic.

"What are we looking for again exactly?" he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall while she threw old clothes aside, scampered from dusty old box to dusty old shelf, opened old photo albums, lifted up dirty covers and wiped off old pictures.

"I swear we have pages like the ones in that book somewhere around here," she was bent over into a tall box of old books. "I can't shake that I've seen them before."

He sighed…a very depressing, elongated and loud sigh. She rolled her eyes and looked back at him.

"Come on," she started. "You're like a little mopey kid."

"Holding you was a lot more fun."

She bent over into another tall box.

"I'm not saying I didn't enjoy that, but this could be really cool if your dad has my super great grandma's full diary…don't you think?"

"Still leaning more towards having my way with you…alone," he kept hinting towards his preference.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Dante," she finally came out of the box.

"You're the one with your head in the trash," he cast a glance about the messy, dusty attic.

She walked past him, giving him an annoyed expression, running her hand across his cheek and sliding it under his chin, "Really?"

"At least promise me we'll have some alone time before the end of the day…or you pass out again," he gave a smile-less laugh.

"Promise."

"Good."

He would've helped her look if he actually knew what to look for, so he had no choice but to watch on the sidelines as she destroyed and cluttered an already disheveled attic. Claire had already made her rounds once but her locations were random jumps. She said she would go one more time through everything, this time in order of a circle not to miss anything. And sure enough, her haptic searching only managed to miss it the first time around. She had removed a pile of blankets and clothes she slid off the top of a shelf to uncover the one box she had yet to touch. Tearing off the old packing tape, she was in luck to find the target of her troubles.

"Here they are!" she shouted triumphantly.

The pages were inside page covers for obvious reasons, and it looked like there were five pages. She held them up to the light coming in from the small south-facing window and mere inches from her face.

"Well?" Dante finally moved to be next to her.

"Yeah, they're definitely the same!" she said excitedly. "Holy cow this is way too cool!" she looked up at him to see him giving her a look that screamed he was bored out of his mind.

Her looked immediately deadpanned.

"What?" he raised his shoulders in question. "Have I not made it clear enough what I'd rather be doing with you?"

"Creeeeeeeeeeeeeper."

His brows furrowed at the label she gave him.

"That's not creepy. I'm your freaking boyfriend," he said matter-of-factly.

Rolling her eyes, she turned back to the pages, actually suppressing a laugh at how silly the half-demon was being. She had to admit that somewhere within her she was touched by how affectionate he wanted to be, though that emotion wasn't winning the forefront right now.

Everything about the pages before her mirrored the book Sparda had. They were yellowed, sporting the same date and signature in the same places.

"Let's hurry back," she stood. "No doubt Sparda's anticipating our return."

Surprisingly, he followed her out without a smart comment and took her back quickly to the library, where Sparda immediately brightened when he saw them back, and then triple brightened if possible upon seeing the pages in her hands.

"What did you find?" he asked quickly.

She handed them over, "Definitely think these are from this book, it's crazy!"

He took them from her and laid them out across his desk and sat down, hovering his face as close as she had during her first inspections. Dante sat on the desk across from him and watched his dad, though not with as much care or anticipation as Claire.

"Wow."

Sparda leaned back in his chair.

"How crazy. What are the odds I would have your ancestor's diary," he finished with a laugh.

"I know, right!" Claire moved beside him and looked at the pages again. "Small world."

"Indeed," the demon picked the book up. "I must be honest with you, Claire. This particular book interests me the most. I don't know if you've read through the entries from your late grandma…but she does mention demons."

Claire's jaw hung.

"What? Seriously?" she took the book from him and flipped it open.

"Yes really. She was a lot like you too. Very spiritual; a devout Christian."

"That I did know," she started. "Actually my grandparents told me that all the time. They were the ones who gave us these."

"From which side?"

"My dad's."

"Still alive?"

"Sadly no. They passed away a couple years ago. They were well along though. Both upper 80s I believe. They had my dad pretty late in life."

Sparda fell silent a moment and studied Claire particularly.

"Does your dad have any sisters?"

Claire actually laughed, "Interestingly, my dad's side has had only boys for a while. My grandparent's often told me how much of a shocker it was when I arrived. I was the girl that broke the streak."

"How long?"

"Not sure…must have been quite a while since my grandma and grandpa made such a big deal about it."

"You sure ask a lot of questions," Dante interjected. "Where's all this coming from suddenly?"

"Like I told you, she mentioned demons," he started. "A lot. Demons coming in to this world are not something new. Around your late grandmother's time was the worst outbreak in my time. But since then we went about 600 years to date without any demons coming to this world until now. And you should know that back when it was at its worse when your ancestor was around, was also when Sanctus was involved."

"What?"

This time it was Dante who asked, finally showing interest in the matter. He had never heard any of this from his dad. For the most part his father's past was even a mystery to him simply because he never cared too much to ask.

"Your late grandmother makes references to him in her works as well. She never directly names him…but I witnessed everything he did and that is what she mostly wrote about. He opened the portal…he's done that many times. We've always gone back and forth. But the last time I really thought I killed him," he ran a hand through his hair and pursed his lip in thought. "And now it looks like history is starting to repeat itself."

"So if demons were around back then, why haven't people heard about them now? About you guys?" Claire looked from demon to half-demon.

"That's really all about timing. Since it was so far in the past, documentation was still in its infancy. There were attempts to pass along some literature but it slowly died out through the centuries. Anyone who could get their hands on pieces that mentioned the demons after a certain point in time treated them as folklore and legend instead of factual documentation," he held up the diary. 'Your late grandmother's diary is a great example. When truth is lost through time it becomes speculation, which turns to nonsense. However, this age we live in now is full of countless ways to document history."

He put the book back down as he paused his thoughts a moment.

"Unreal," Claire breathed the word out.

"It's heavy," he nodded before standing up and giving Claire a very serious look. "The reason I asked you how long it has been since your father's side had any girls is because...if what you said is true and you are the first in as far back as your family can remember…then your grandmother was making a direct reference to you in her writing."

Too stunned by the statement to question what she heard, Sparda picked up the book and opened it to the last page, one he had frequented more times than he could remember, and back to the statement that caused sleepless nights of vain questioning and research. Re-reading the words to himself once again, he handed the book to Claire and let her read the last words of her late relatives diary.

"…until a girl is born," she read slowly with question in her voice.

"Do you believe in prophesy?" the demon asked her, slowly taking the book back.

She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find anything. Her eyes searched Sparda's for elaboration.

"It's crazy for an outsider to read this as any source of factual information, Claire. But I lived through the events in this diary. I truly believe we shouldn't take statements like hers lightly…but if we were to hold her words as veritable facts…"

The air grew heavy and Dante stood to directly face his father. Never before had he looked so fervent. The demon stepped up to the young girl and placed his hands on her shoulders and continued his silence as he studied her over one last moment, organizing the many thoughts of his mind.

"…then **you**…are the only one capable of killing Sanctus."

**Very excited where this story goes now. PLEASE REVIEW when you have the time. The reason I directly reply to every review is to thank you for your time initially, and also a way for deeper discussion (if it comes to it) about this story in terms of what I can do better, what readers want more of, the possibilities are endless.**

**February 20****th**** 11:09 P.M. on vacation in TEXAS! Woot.**

**(oh cool…my birthday is in a week, :-D)**


	39. They're Back

**Plain and simple, this chapter was up quicker due to the amount of awesome reviews. Don't take it lightly when I say reviews speed this process along. Thank you so much to all who took the time to write me their thoughts! God Bless : )**

The moment the words left Sparda's mouth, Claire's stomach flipped. Her heartbeat increased, drowning out the world around her as her pulse pounded in her ears. Her mouth went dry and she subconsciously took a small step back, which was more along the lines to catch herself in her momentary lapse of holding herself up; gravity seemed heavier.

An instant later, Dante stormed around the desk, put and arm around his girlfriend protectively like Sparda was going to harm her, before abruptly shoving his dad back with a force that caused the demon to stumble a ways before maintaining balance again.

"What kind of s*** are you…what the hell Dad!"

Claire's eyes snapped to Dante at his sudden anger. Even Sparda blinked in shock at the push he received.

"Son…"

"Don't 'Son' me!" he continued to raise his voice. "What the f*** kind of statement is that? You read a diary and all of a sudden come to a conclusion like that?"

Regaining control of her body, Claire quickly stepped up and wrapped her arms around the half-demon's right arm.

"Dante," her voice was small.

He turned back to her as she gave a pleading look for him to calm down.

"You're just gonna let him say something as ridiculous as that?"

Her eyes fell from her boyfriend's to look at Sparda's, waiting for him to speak again. The demon straightened up and let out a long sigh.

"Dante…do you really think I would say something so extreme without reason?"

Dante's response was a glare that only got colder each passing second.

"Am I allowed to explain myself without you killing me?" he put his hands up slowly.

Claire's arms fell to take hold of Dante's hand, as his body was starting to shake with increasing anger. Actually, the gesture caused him to immediately squeeze her hand and she felt his body turn slightly lax. She moved in front of him to face him, finally drawing his burning eyes away from his father's.

"Hey…you know there has to be a good reason…we know your dad wouldn't joke about something like this."

Without a word he removed his hand from hers and threw an arm around her, quickly pulling her to his chest, and then securing her there with his other arm. Sensing an immediate danger had passed, Sparda finally lowered his hands and glanced over at the sectional and large chairs on the far side of the library.

"Probably best we sit."

It wasn't until he moved over and sat in one of the large chairs did Dante finally start to move over, directing Claire in his refusal to detach her from his hold. Sitting down, he pulled her down into his lap and resumed his hold.

"Perhaps I should mention I'm as pensive to say such a statement as you were to hear it," his dad started.

"You damn well better be," Dante's voice was low.

Claire was tucked close, her head below his chin, her legs tucked up close as she sat between his. She moved her head back and reached up her hand, resting it on his cheek reassuringly. But it was hard for her, trying her best to calm him down when her own unease was evident after the proclamation. He didn't look at her, but he slowly nudged his head down into hers.

"To say such a thing without having witnessed everything you've done to this point **would** be foolish," he looked at her. "However, you possess the most extraordinary powers I've ever seen, Claire. But you're human. Except for myself, Andrew and my sons…demons can't touch you. And Sanctus' power is immeasurable. Something drastic has happened to him since his last appearance so long ago. I don't think any of us stand a chance, and yet, when you met him face-to-face something came over you that was so incredible, it scared and deeply wounded him."

"I don't remember what I did," she said softly.

He nodded, leaned his elbows on his knees and placed his head above his clasped hands.

"I know you don't. I talked with Andrew about it. It really looked like your body was taken over by some sort of hidden force…just an incredible burst of power calling the shots. Andrew and I wonder if you have some sort of hidden abilities laying dormant that we have yet to see come to full fruition. And if you do, we wonder if that is why Sanctus seems to want you dead."

"What?" Dante asked suddenly, not in anger, but complete shock.

"Sanctus directly said his business wasn't with me when we met, but with Claire."

"G** damnit," Dante sighed in frustration. "You've got to be kidding me," he covered his face in his hands.

"He was no match for you and I could barely hold back his sword thrusts. The way he acted around you makes me wonder if he knows exactly what you are…and what you are capable of."

There was silence and Sparda stood.

"I don't like the fact that we haven't seen or heard word of Sanctus since Claire hurt him. If he's planning something, we'd have no warning or idea when and what that would be. We need to be on our guards now more than ever. Dante, you should be with her at all times at this point…and I wouldn't be leaving the house any time soon right now."

"Like you even need to say that," Dante's grip on his girlfriend increased.

Sparda actually smiled, despite his growing worry, "I know, Son. I'm going to talk with Andrew. No doubt he'll want to know all this," he headed over and picked up the diary and the pages Claire brought. "Claire."

She brought her eyes, which had fallen to the floor for a while now, up to his.

"Be strong. That son of mine will never let anything happen to you. We'll figure this out."

She gave a small smile and nod as he turned and briskly left the library. The sound of the door closing behind him echoed around them before silence loomed again.

"I'm okay," she said quietly.

Dante slowly moved her back so he could look her in the eyes.

"I'm not worried. I'm really okay," she repeated again, this time with a small smile. "So don't worry about me."

His face didn't change. His eyes were serious as he stared down at her. Slowly, it was enough for her smile to falter.

"Why do you do that?" he asked simply.

His stern countenance started to worry her.

"What?"

His eyes closed and he shook his head, now appearing to be frustrated.

"Admit it."

Speechless to his sudden change in mannerisms, she could only stare, and then slightly jump when he moved his face close to hers, eyes still stern.

"You're not okay, Claire. You're terrified."

Her eyes widened.

"N-No I'm not," she said quickly, moving her face back a ways. "I don't want anyone to worry. I really am f—"

He cut her off when he grabbed her wrist and held her hand up in front of her eyes.

"If you're fine, then why are you trembling?"

It was true. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably. She had been entirely unaware of her body's reaction to Sparda's thoughts. Dante had noticed her shaking start the moment they sat down.

"Stop pretending you're fine when you're not. Let the people who love you worry about you once in a while!" he raised his voice.

Her body would betray her desire to be strong yet again when tears started to well up.

"Let the **man** who loves you worry about you," he brought his other hand up to hold her shaking one, pressing his lips to it a moment. "And stop hesitating to tell me your scared…let me support you, Claire."

He slowly released her hand and it dropped lifelessly in her lap, her tears falling freely now. He quickly pulled her back to him and buried his face in her hair as she cried into his chest harder than she had in a while. Her cries and gasps for breath echoed around them while Dante rubbed her back and whispered repeatedly how much he loved her, and his desire to protect her no matter what.

Meanwhile, Sparda's discovery and follow-up speculations had Andrew constantly shaking his head, not in disbelief, but in amazement.

"All because of a diary," his friend started.

They were out in the backyard, Andrew fresh back from scouring the town for any stubborn people still yet to leave West Eden. Since the barrier they had yet to go a day without getting more people to leave, which worried them more now, with the heavy cloud hovering over Claire's future. There was no doubt that Sanctus was up to something in his absence, but what was still unknown. It was paramount they got everyone out of the barrier before literal hell broke loose.

"How'd she take it?" Andrew asked.

He shook his head, "Not well."

While waiting for Andrew's return, Sparda's keen hearing picked up on Claire's crying from within the library. It was a sound that really stung his heart. She continued to put up with so much because of his kind and there was nothing he could do for her. The only hope he held on to was the amount of love his son had for the girl. He meant his words; Dante wouldn't let anything happen to her, even if he had to choose death.

"So what now?" Andrew continued. "We strike first or get struck and react?"

The demon king cast weary eyes past his friend to nowhere in particular.

"I don't know if we have a choice besides the latter. I can't sense him anywhere…you?"

"No," Andrew shook his head. "It's beyond me how he can mask that much power."

"He…"

That was all Sparda got out before he stilled a moment and then turned towards the distance.

"What is it?" Andrew stepped up to him.

The answer to his question came when he also stilled and seemed to sense exactly what had Sparda's attention. Dante and Claire had relocated to his room for some quiet time to themselves as she calmed herself down; now they both stiffened with eyes out the window. Claire jumped up immediately, to which Dante grabbed her by the arm, standing as well.

"Claire, no!" he pulled her back to him where he could secure her with an arm.

"That's him!" she started. "We have to find out what he's doing. That's a ton of energy!"

"The hell I'm letting you rush into this by yourself!"

"I'm not going alone! Take me!" she struggled to get free.

"Do you realize how dumb it would be to take you closer to someone who wants to kill you? You were terrified a moment ago, what's changed?"

"I'm sick of being in the dark!" she cried. "If I'm supposed to be the only one who can kill him then how is avoiding him supposed to help?"

"We don't **know** that for sure!"

The four of them could sense Sanctus' energy levels rising. Whatever he was doing right now was requiring a large outpour of power. Knowing he would metaphorically kill her later, without caring, she actually put her hands to his chest and pushed him away with her energy. She was out the balcony doors in a flash.

"DAMNIT, CLAIRE!"

Andrew and Sparda could only turn in time to see Claire shoot past them at speeds that rivaled their own. Andrew took after her the moment Dante also shot past them. Sparda went to the house to get Eva, not daring leave her by herself.

"What is she thinking!" Andrew caught up to the half-demon.

"She's **not**!" he replied.

She put about half a football field between them, which they were slowly cutting down in size. The miles flew by like seconds at their break-neck speeds. They flew rivers and dashed through the forested countryside. But when they passed through the most recent wooded area, did they come to a screeching halt, just like Claire, upon seeing the spectacle before them. The spacious grassy field before them was a raging inferno, however, not with actual flames. It was dark, red, energy that acted like fire; scorching in temperature, wild in its movements, and just as deadly. It threatened to consume anything near it.

Their eyes then fell to take on a scene, perhaps, more shocking than the energy being released. As expected, there was Sanctus. However, he was standing with his arms stretched halfway, palms opened, in front of Vergil. Said half-demon was on his knees with his hands to his head, and looked to be in pain as the energy seemed to be thicker and more concentrated around his form. Confirming the question, Vergil's cries of pain could be heard in and out over the expulsion of the energy.

"What is he doing to him?" Andrew shouted.

All at once, Dante caught the determination flash across his girlfriend's face, and there was also a hint of fear for what was happening to Vergil. He shot forward to grab and pin her down, and turned out to be too slow. She read him better than he did her. She dodged the attempt to the side before summoning her energy full force. With no idea what she could do, what was happening before her, and knowing she could die, she leapt into action.

**Vergil is back, Vergil fans! : ) ….and so is Sanctus :-/ …I absolutely loved writing the scene earlier between Claire and Dante. It's hard to explain why. It was refreshing for him to actually be upset with her in a rather romantic way. Hope you guys thought something similar. PLEASE REVIEW! Major thanks to those who sent them out right away. My vacation is almost over :-( **

**Sunday, February 24****th****, 2013 11:37 p.m.**


	40. Good or Evil?

**This is another exciting one my friends! But first! Those of you who have reviewed this story AT LEAST once have gotten a PM from me recently that had a 2,000-some-long short story with Claire and Dante. That is my way of saying THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! for your review, whether that was a one time thing or many. I mean it when I say my writing, whether it is pace or quality or context, is directly influenced by reviews. **

**To be blunt, I have been overly ****FRUSTRATED****folks who merely add this to their favorites and don't review. That just plain SUCKS. I HATE IT. I don't understand how a story can be a favorite of someones without a review…? (o_o) There were a lot recently and I guess it finally pushed me to reward those willing to take 20 seconds and let me know their thoughts. You guys rock. Even a "great story" or a "thank you" means mucho to me.**

**ATTENTION: To the following who reviewed this as guests and without an account: ****MusicOfTheDawn, Pikasaur, red, shelbyfrisk, shelby, Taiyoukai assassin, and Valentine. ****If you happen by this story again, please let me know a way to contact you and send you the short story. Thanks guys!**

**Enjoy, cause we are getting really close to a climax here!**

Andrew and Dante's attempt to stop Claire's onward assault was in vain. She broke through the currents of Sanctus' deadly energy like a hot knife through butter, however the demons weren't as fortunate. They were stopped a few steps in and pushed out completely. She was shining with power, her own golden energy and light coming out in full force.

The counterfeit priest turned in shock to see Claire airborne, mere yards from his position, and on fire with her blinding powers. She landed, slid to a stop in between them, opened up her hands and shot a very concentrated, very powerful, dose of energy at Sanctus. Much to her shock, as well as the demons, it worked. He was flown back with incredible force and his inferno immediately dispelled.

She whirled around, then, to take in Vergil on the ground before her, staring at her just as incredulously as she was he.

"Vergil, are you okay?" she dropped to her knees.

The eldest half-demon put Claire absolutely beside her self. He practically lunged forward and grabbed her hands with tremendous urgency and distress in his voice and on his face.

"Claire! Please, kill him!"

Her eyes quickly searched his face. She gripped his hands with her own, almost to the point of terrified at how desperate he seemed.

"Vergil!" she started. "What is wrong?"

Immediately, her mind flew back to the previous time she and he had a similar encounter. She recalled how small he had seemed, raising a shaky hand to her face and asking her for help. Before he got anything out, he yanked his hands from hers where they resumed their place on his head, once again, as he hunched over in pain.

"Vergil!" she put her hands on his shoulders. "Please tell me what's going on! What's w—"

In an instant, she felt the sharp piercing before it stole her breath. Her back arched as she let out a startled and pained cry. The blood shot onto Vergil, who looked up immediately upon hearing her agonizing cry. Sanctus, who was still in the process of recovery from her initial attack, had shot his energy in the form of a spear, which stabbed Claire straight through her lower abdomen, narrowly missing Vergil on the way out. Dante was beside her in a second, as Andrew bolted to Sanctus.

"No, Claire!" Vergil shouted in shock.

In that moment, actually confirming what he had heard from a distance, Dante could only manage a dumbfounded stare at his elder twin. An instant later, the brothers locked eyes. In the brief second that it lasted, Dante's heart skipped at what he saw in Vergil's ice blue orbs.

"Get her out of here, Dante! She's the only one that can kill Sanctus!"

Had he not been reeling out of his mind at the moment, a customary 'What the hell is going on!?' or 'What the ***?!' would have slipped from his mouth.

"Vergil, you gotta tell us what's going on."

Claire's weak and suffering voice brought the brothers attention back to her, fully. Leaning forward, she brought a hand quickly to her new wound. It astonished them all that she was still concerned for Vergil's wellbeing when she was potentially on death row.

Startling them, Sparda was suddenly beside them, his sword drawn and pointed at his oldest child.

"Wait!"

Claire lunged forward with her command to the demon king, instantly falling forward in pain as she spat up a large amount of blood.

"Claire what happened to you?" he shouted but kept his sword up and pointed at Vergil.

"You guys need to get her out of here now!" Vergil repeated his request with growing anxiety.

The look Sparda bestowed was the same Dante had earlier, upon hearing and witnessing a very different Vergil. A large wave of energy shot past them, forcing him to the ground fully while Sparda braced to stay up and Dante maneuvered Claire behind him for safety. Andrew and Sanctus were locked in a fast paced sword brawl not far from them.

"Let us help you!" Claire continued to worry her audience when she pushed out of Dante's grip, her hands falling onto Vergil's lap where she looked him straight in the eyes. "Please!"

Her wound was starting to heal on it's own accord, but her sudden movements here and there were only reopening it, starting the process over.

"You can't help me if you're dead!" he shouted before leaping to his feet and trying to run, it seemed. Whether it was to get away from her to save her or save himself, he would be cut off. All at once, Andrew was cast back, where he crashed through the earth, digging it up as he flew across it. Vergil's body started to glow a dark deep bloody red, before the energy from before started to surround it. Turning, they all saw Sanctus walking towards them slowly, his hand rose up, also sporting the same demonic aura.

"Father!"

Sparda's heart stopped and his eyes flew wide, jaw hung in astonishment.

"I said get her out of here now!" Vergil finished before he was overpowered by whatever dark energy had him.

He went limp and suddenly shot over through the air straight into the arms of Sanctus, who hung him by his side like a limp sack.

**"NO!"**

Despite the blood that practically jumped out of her wound, despite the excruciating pain it caused her, and despite facing potential death at the hands of Sanctus, she shot up out of Dante's arms, determined to get Vergil back.

It was in her to give them one last shocker. She actually managed to block his attack when he shot another spear her way. Before she could give him another onslaught of her own, he jumped back a ways and landed safely.

"Stubborn, aren't we?" Sanctus shot her steely eyes. "I'll kill you soon enough, Claire."

She felt a shudder go down her body when he called her by name for the first time. Dante took the moment to leap in front of her and bring her back to where they all were, though he moved with caution due to her injury.

"What have you done to Vergil!" she fought against Dante's embrace, but he would win this time and keep her still.

"Sanctus…what the hell does this have to do with Claire?" Sparda took a few steps forward.

At that comment, Sanctus' eyes actually grew wider with what looked like disbelief and then, finally, shock.

"You don't know what she is?"

That really got all of them.

"And you **do**?" Sparda asked.

"Why else would I be so determined to kill her?" he said simply, eyeing the girl.

"What is she, then, if you know so much?" Andrew narrowed his eyes.

The demon-priest let out a quick set of laughs before slightly turning his back to them.

"You really have lost your touch, Sparda—"

**"You're scared of me."**

Sanctus visibly twitched at Claire's deliberate statement and shot angry eyes her way.

"Cause I can kill you right?" she shouted, perhaps trying to egg him on.

His response came in another blast of energy her way, where Dante immediately stepped in front of it, smashing his sword into the ground, and bracing for the impact. It would have knocked him away had Sparda and Andrew not jumped in to help divert the blast. And like every meeting thus far with Sanctus, he was gone in a flash, when they lost sight of him for a second.

No doubt it was her adrenaline keeping her going, and her mind off her fatigue and her pain. Upon his leave, and taking Vergil with him, she collapsed to the ground fully. All three shouted her name and rushed to her aide. She was still conscious, which surprised them, but breathing like she was post-marathon. Her wound was back in the early stages of healing, but due to all the movement she had been doing, the bloodstain was the size of a large plate. Dante gingerly moved her into his lap and faced her upward, while Sparda applied pressure, and they could see her face was snow white.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

They turned to see Eva run up and finally join them. It was a risk for her to be left home alone, and Sparda found it wasn't much better when he got here. Reluctantly, he dropped her off to hide in the forest while he went to help fight.

"Conscious and breathing," the demon king said quickly as he continued to look her over.

She finally opened her eyes slightly not looking at anything in particular.

"I'm sorry," came her breathy voice. "…really starting…to become more trouble…than I'm worth."

"Stop thinking like that!" Dante put his head to hers. "Although I have a few things I'm gonna scold you about later, I'm damn happy to be able to worry about you! How many times do we have to go over this?"

He was clearly flustered with Claire on multiple levels for her lack of obedience, magnet to danger, and lack of communication. Now it was his turn to lecture her on that topic…later. At the moment Claire's injury was worry-worthy, but it wasn't the biggest shock of the evening. Vergil was.

All wanted to talk about it. However, none knew how to bring it up, plus Claire needed the attention first. They promptly headed back and Eva took her upstairs, with Dante on their heels, as she helped her get cleaned up with care. Sanctus' puncture on her lower torso was now scabbed over and shrinking by the minute. Eva guided her into the bathroom with clean clothes and came out minutes later with her tattered sundress, the water had been running for a while, signaling Claire was in the shower.

"I'll let you take it from here," she headed past him. "Remind and help her to move slow and take it easy."

"Thanks again, Mom."

She smiled and slipped out the door while he sat on the edge of her bed in frustration. His mind was juggling his worry for her and his astonishment for his twin brother. He had gone from wanting to kill Claire, to worrying about her well being and asking himself and their father to get her to safety.

"He actually called him 'father'," Dante said to himself as he put his face in his hands. "What the hell is going on?"

He heard the water shut off and Claire begin to get out of the shower with the door opening and closing.

"Sanctus."

He said the word as if testing it coming from his own mouth. What was the relationship between him and Vergil? They seemed to have interrupted something pretty substantial when they came upon the both of them. What would have happened, had they not shown up? And why did Sanctus take Vergil with him?

The door opened to reveal Claire in athletic blue shorts and a black tank top. Her hair was freshly showered, and looked like there had been no attempts to dry or brush it. What immediately struck him was how deeply sad she looked.

"Hey," he got up quickly and put his hands on her waist. "You okay?"

She subtly nodded her head, saying nothing.

"Let me see?" he gestured his head down to her injury.

Again, only nods. He kept one hand on her waist before slowly reached down and moving up her tank top. Humorously, what struck him first was how great of shape his girlfriend was in. He knew she worked out, ran and kept a proper diet, but he had never been allowed to see the payoff clearly. There had been times he had felt it, but that was it. There had been times where she wore tighter fitting clothes and he could 'see' it, but that was it. And when she wore a swimsuit, it was a two-piece that covered her well. So he could imagine, but that was it. There were no deep abs, but a nice flat stomach, not ripped, but well taken care of. **Finally**, his eyes moved to the almost healed gash. It had shrunk down to the size of a kiwi fruit. He guessed within a half hour there would be no trace of it left.

"Thank God you have these powers—"

She stepped forward and buried her face into his chest, her hands reaching up and gripping his shirt.

"…it's all my fault."

His hands moved on their own to the sides of her arms.

"…all of this…cause I have these **stupid** powers…"

"You know that's not true," he sighed. "But you're wanting to take responsibility again, like **always**," he stressed, yet with a lighter tone to try and lax the pressure she was under.

He heard the whimper escape her, though she was trying her hardest not to cry. Finally embracing her, he started to rub her back.

"You are so loved, Claire. None of us…and I mean that, **none** of us are blaming you," he started. "And I know for damn sure none of us would be better off if you weren't around."

He managed a smile, though the sight of her shaking in his arms was slowly tearing him up.

"Besides, you're the one who supposed to save us all, right?"

She actually choked out a laugh and slowly nodded her head. He ran his hands down her arms to take her hands.

"You've probably figured, but Sparda and Andrew wanted to talk about what happened. We're all really confused, so input from everyone would be preferred," he spoke softly.

"Yeah," her voice was so quiet, if not for his keen hearing, he wouldn't catch what she was saying. "If you stay with me, I'll be fine."

His heart skipped at her earnest statement.

"Always, Claire."

He led her downstairs and joined the others, as they tried to figure out what exactly happened, and was happening, and was going to happen.

**Read and please review when you find the time ;-) **

**Wednesday, March 6****th****, 2013 10:24 p.m.**


	41. Presage

**Goodbye writer's block, hello chapter! Thank you for reviewing everyone!**

Sparda and Eva were very close on the couch. Sparda had his head in his hands as he leaned forward, while Eva had an arm around him with her hand on his shoulder. Andrew was leaning against the chair across from them, his eyes to the ground. Everyone was still at such a loss that they made little reactions or movements upon Claire and Dante finally coming in. They sat in the chair Andrew was leaning on, Dante quickly pulling Claire as close as possible as she leaned in beside him. They were all there, but silence reigned longer. Eva continued to rub circles on her husband's back while Andrew paced, eyes still glued to the ground.

"I think…"

That was all she said when everyone shot their eyes to her as sharply as if she threw a plate against the wall. And it wasn't just that which had stopped her. She played her comment over and over…and over again within the rushing waters of her mind. Part of her was sure all in the room would echo her thought. But that didn't mean it was easier to say.

"Claire."

Dante reached up and placed his hand over hers that was on his knee. She got a small smiled from him that urged her to continue. Somebody had to break the ice.

"…I think Vergil is being controlled…by Sanctus."

Her voice was so small, so quiet, had anybody been moving around it may have gone unheard. Her eyes lifted up and viewed each person in the room, waiting for facial or verbal reactions.

"I think you're right."

Sparda finally sat up and leaned back into the chair, Eva adjusting with him. Andrew merely nodded.

"He called me father," he then said. "I couldn't…I was stunned."

Eva nodded and moved to hold one of his hands.

"And he seemed to be concerned for Claire."

Dante's arm around Claire tightened after he started.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing…but there is no mistaking it. He was desperate to get Claire out of there after Sanctus attacked her."

Each member of the party nodded, trying to wrap their own minds around everything in another small moment of silence.

"And he said it," Andrew started. "…he said Claire was the only one who could kill Sanctus."

"What am I, right?" Claire's soft voice stated the common question with a laugh.

She was trying to make light of the situation, they knew, but they could also sense her fear. She knew it too; it was just a façade to try and downplay how dire everything was now.

"What would Sanctus want with your son, Sparda?" Andrew chimed in to move things along again.

"You know, I'm still trying to figure that one out."

Claire studied the demon king. Never has she seen him look so defeated and cornered. Eva clung to him, sharing his desperation. Andrew raised a tired hand to massage his temple. Even the presence of the half-demon beside her was strained. They were all pressed about as far as they could go at the moment, and Claire wondered how much longer it would take before something truly bad happened. How long would it take before the foundation holding them up crumbled? What did winning even mean anymore? And was it possible? Despite not knowing the outcome, Claire was very certain about a few things.

"Can you kill Vergil, Sparda?"

The question, especially from her, shocked all of them out of their depressed states to stare at her.

"Your own son?" she pressed.

"Claire?" Dante looked down at her,

"Never," Sparda answered without hesitation, despite himself.

"Exactly," Claire continued. "And that's why it should be obvious why he's controlling him."

Her insight made all of them aware of how foolish they were not to see it sooner. Sanctus and Sparda had a deep past of hatred and war, and the faux-priest knew his nemesis well. His wife, along with the sons he had created, would be Sparda's greatest weakness.

"And thinking back, when Vergil almost killed me and caused Dante's demon side to control him, he was hoping to have both of your sons against you," she finished.

"So then what about you?" Andrew looked at her. "Why are you suddenly so paramount as well? I'd even go so far as to say you're the bigger threat to him."

She knew the question was rhetorical; that's all it could be to them.

"Whatever the reason, it's clear that you are the bane of his existence," Andrew continued. "I honestly wanted to doubt Sparda when he said you were the only one who could kill him…but just hearing it from Vergil makes it reality."

"I still doubt it," Claire put her head to Dante's chest. "Every time we meet he almost kills me," annoyance was bound in her voice.

"That may be true…but I think he's afraid of what you could do if you unleashed your full potential," Sparda started. "I saw it when he almost killed both of us, Claire. I think there's a massive power within you just lying dormant."

She was silent and looked away, the conversation starting to get her upset. If she was this amazingly powerful being that could kill Sanctus, why was she always getting in the way in the long run and needing saving? If the tables were turned and she was constantly saving the others, she would have more patience to accept this theory. Having Vergil say it so bluntly only added to her frustration. She wondered if any of them were solely relying on her to save the day now. Her mind was in a bad state at the moment. Anger was warring with confusion and her temperament didn't seem like it was going down any time soon. And it was now to the point where she knew she needed some solo time. She stood abruptly, catching them all off guard, especially Dante.

"I need to cool off," was all she said and left the room.

Dante couldn't remember the last time he heard her sound so angry. He had stood to ask her what was wrong, but that tone cemented him where he was.

"She has every right to be upset," Eva looked at Dante. "Poor girl must feel the weight of the world on her shoulders right now."

Dante fell back into the sectional with a loud thud and let out his own aggravated sigh.

"Damnit," he covered his face with his hands. "How much hell am I gonna put her through? Sorry a** excuse of a boyfriend I am."

"She's still here, Son. She's not blaming anyone. You know she puts more responsibility on herself than we would and ever could."

He knew his dad was right, but the truth did nothing to assuage his guilt. Claire had retreated to her room, where she even went so far as to lock the door before going to her bed. Practically burrowing herself in she moved back as close as she could to the many pillows against the headboard and tucked her knees close. Resting her head on her knees, she let out an elongated sigh. Her eyes found themselves scanning the guest bedroom that used to belong to Vergil. That only managed to fill her head with more guilt and anguish. The way he had acted…it was like she was his only hope. He was desperate for her to stay alive after Sanctus pierced her. The simple thought caused her eyes to tear up before she buried them completely against her knees.

"I'm so pathetic," she cried softly. "I can't even protect myself…"

Her soft sobs filled the silence of the room until…

_Help._

Her head shot up immediately as she stared at nothing in particular. The confusion lasted only a second before she immediately recognized that voice. It was the same voice that she heard when she was with Dante and his friends. And just like before, the uneasy feeling hit her again. She actually started to tremble.

"What the heck is wrong with me!" she practically screamed.

Instantly, the door of the room attempted to open, and when that person found it was locked, "Claire! What's wrong?"

The sound of her boyfriend's concerned voice really got to her and she hugged herself tighter.

"Claire!"

She chose to ignore him, and at this point she had fallen over to her side, grabbing the blankets and trying to bury herself further from the world. Only moments later, Dante had jumped up onto the balcony and rushed in to find her cocooned on the bed.

"What's wrong, Claire?" he said quickly, prying at blankets to find her.

"Just go away!"

Her sharp cry stopped him abruptly, not unlike her angry tone had minutes earlier. The demand was so foreign to him. The last time she had told him to leave was when his father and he had taken her away from Vergil when they thought he was going to strangle her. And before they went downstairs to talk she had earnestly wanted him by her side. What had changed?

"Claire, I wanna know what's wrong," he softened his tone.

"That's such a stupid question!" she screamed again.

Claire had become unraveled at his point, as all the bindings holding her together had apparently snapped.

"Claire y—"

"I said get out!"

She sat up immediately and the blankets fell to her sides to reveal her tear stained face.

"I wanna know what's wrong too, Dante!" she started. "What the hell am I, huh? Why do I have these stupid powers if all I can do with them is cause you guys more trouble?"

"You're just tired—"

"Stop telling me that!" she spat. "Just get out!"

At that, she turned away from him, in hopes he would abide to her wishes. He reached for her arm and attempted to take her close and help calm her down. She shrugged him off each time.

"Leave me alone, Dante!" she kept shouting.

"Claire I'm worried about you!" he then shouted himself. "Please just let me be here with you, at least," he begged. She had shrugged him off again but the moment his hand touched her arm this final time, she whirled around and smacked him clean across his left cheek. No powers were involved, so no physical pain befell the half-demon. And yet, something about that slap had done more damage to his heart than he expected. His eyes were wide but that wasn't the feature causing Claire to regret her actions the most. Yes, she was stunned she had just hit him out of spite, but it was the overwhelming sense of hurt and pain that overflowed from his ice blue irises. Never, and she meant never, had he looked so small to her. He slowly reached up and put his hand to his cheek while he backed away from her and came to his feet.

"…D—Dante…"

His face was now to the ground and his bangs covered up his expression, which she was both hating and grateful for.

"I'm sorry."

That was it. It was all he said. But it was enough to throw Claire into despair with how his voice had broke at the end. He headed up to the door, unlocked it, and left without hesitation. She wasn't aware at what point the tears started to flow without end down her face, or when her heart had tightened so much she felt so weighted down, or when she forgot how to breathe, but she did know one thing. This pain was a million times greater than any near-death injury she had ever received. It was a couple minutes after she had grabbed her pillow and began sobbing in to it, that her phone rang from somewhere in the room. After her ringtone died, she was in good company with silence once again. Not for long, though, as her phone rang again.

"Gosh, what?" she threw her pillow aside in anger and followed the sound to find it.

She threw her pile of clothes around a few times before finding it buried under a few of her shirts. The screen displayed a picture of her mother, with the name and number to boot.

"Yeah, perfect timing," she managed behind a now straining voice.

As she debated whether or not to answer, another called slipped into the missed category. She wasn't surprised when her mother gave it another go around, and she finally answered.

"Hey mom."

Even she could hear how horrible she sounded, and the added sniffle after her greeting did nothing to help that.

"Claire? Honey what's wrong?"

The worry in her mother's voice, doubled with her father's questioning in the background, actually made her laugh a little.

"Nothing…I'm just a complete idiot," she wiped at her eyes with her free hand. "Enjoying my own pity party."

"Oh sweetheart, what happened?"

Her father's voice asked, in a rather stern tone, if Dante had done anything to upset her. Even without her answering, he was quick to add he would kill him. Finally, though, she was smiling again, even letting out a couple laughs.

"I miss you guys," she then said.

"We miss you too, are you taking care of yourself? Staying out of trouble?"

Again, her dad laughed in the background and Claire smiled more.

"To the best of my abilities," she said sincerely.

"I believe it," her mom laughed. "So, what's wrong?"

Claire's smile faltered only a little, and she wiped a few more stray waterworks away.

"Well the problem is me," she shook her head over and over. "I'm such an idiot, Mom."

She practically heard her mom smile.

"How so?"

Her daughter was silent for so long, her mother started to grasp whatever she had done was really weighing on her.

"Dante was trying to comfort me and I just…I snapped," she started. "…."

Karen waited for her to continue, knowing it best to let her have the floor.

"A lot has happened since you guys left…and I've really let it get to me today. I just snapped, I guess."

"What's happened, Claire?"

She bit her lip in the small debate that it was best to keep the theories of her being the only one to save the world, to herself. She hated keeping things from her parents, but also hated making them worry.

"Long story…tell you later."

"Okay, Honey," she smiled through the phone. "Now what have you done that's so bad?"

Her hand repeatedly gripped the sheets and let them go as her eyes focused down but on nothing in particular. The question brought some fresh tears to the surface, but she let these fall freely.

"He was trying to make me feel better and I smacked him, Mom."

Claire was amazed she could say that sentence without pauses or hesitation. It stung to say it out loud.

"You've hit him before, Claire," her mom started. "Quite hard if I remember," she laughed at the memory of Dante flying out of the balcony and onto the ground when they had made up after fighting before.

The sniffle from her daughter stopped her laughter immediately.

"Not like this, Mom," she started crying again. "He was trying to comfort me, not tease me."

Silence, followed by another sniffle.

"I hurt him so much…the look he gave me. I really am an idiot."

Despite the situation, Karen gave another laugh.

"Well then, Claire," her smile laced her words again. "I think we better call it a night and let you go apologize, right?"

Even though it was a phone call, Claire nodded over and over and put her mouth, as if she didn't want her mom to hear her cries.

_Claire._

She gasped, hand flying from her mouth to the bed as her eyes shot up.

"Honey?"

Her heart even skipped. By no means had she gotten used to hearing this voice, but it was the first time it called her by name. She waited in silence, even as her mother repeated her name in wondering what just happened.

"Thanks for listening, Mom," she said quickly. "Love you both."

Her mom knew something was up, but if her daughter didn't want to talk about it, then she wasn't going to push it.

"…All right, Claire. Please take care of yourself. We both love you."

"Love you too," she quickly ended the call and stilled.

Her breaths were small and her movements minimal as she waited for the voice to come back. Slowly releasing the tension in her body, she dropped her shoulders and closed her eyes.

_Claire?_

Here eyes remained shut as she let in and out a long breath.

_'Hello?' she finally answered the anomaly._

Moments passed in silence and she adjusted to the feeling of distress and unease this voice brought with it.

_Is that really you?_

She continued her rhythmic breathing. She had to slow her heart down, as it was beating like a base drum in her ears.

_'Who are you?' she finally asked the million-dollar question._

This entire conversation was taking place within her mind.

_Claire…can you really hear me?_

_ 'Yes,' she answered quickly. 'Please…who are you?'_

The slight pain, unease, and distress she felt took a sudden spike that grabbed another gasp of breath from her, and a shock went up her spine.

_Vergil._

Like a brick through glass, her concentration sharply broke. She fell forward on the bed and braced herself, clearly shaken. Her eyes were open and darting all over the place, and she realized she needed to breathe. She took in breaths like she had been submerged against her will. As much as she was in disbelief, the reality struck her hard. Had she not been terrified of hearing the voice and had she not been engulfed in the terrible feelings that came with it, that comment would have been remarkably unsurprising. As much as she wanted to remain sprawled out in shock, she needed to calm down and refocus. Her connection with the half-demon was back only after her pulse dropped back to normal.

_Claire?_

_ 'Is it really you, Vergil?' she asked desperately._

_ I finally reached you._

The relief of his voice was so alien to her.

_'You're being controlled,' she didn't beat around the bush._

If she really was talking to Vergil, and only God knew how this was possible, then she wasn't going to waste any time getting answers to all the questions that stagnantly hung around her like unwanted company.

_Yes._

His answered was strained, and the unwanted feelings started to grow within her again.

_'Please tell me—'_

_ I can't talk long, please listen. There's a lot I don't know. I don't know how I can talk to you…I was merely crying out for help and somehow you can hear me. Sanctus wants you dead, I don't know why. He won't even tell me, but I've seen how deadly you can be. He is controlling me—_

Despite his wish she listen, she couldn't help but interrupt.

_'How can you be talking to me if he's controlling you?'_

_ It takes everything I have to do this, Claire, please. There are a million things I'm not sure about, but I know that you have to be the one to kill him. _

_ 'Why?' she said in distress. 'All I ever do is get in the way and require saving! Why does everyone think that?'_

_ Claire I wish I could tell you…but all I can say is Sanctus fears you the most. Whenever I'm around you I can feel his grip on me loosening. There's no definitive answer, but everything points to you._

She couldn't focus her distain to hear the words verified so much by someone who was playing this game from the inside, because that horrible feeling started to grow after his words. It started to get so intense this time, that in reality she let out a painful breath of air and started to hunch over.

_'Vergil…it hurts…whenever I hear you…there's this pain…'_

Silence.

_'…Vergil? Vergil can you hear me?'_

Panic started to slip in to overshadow her pain, which was becoming so unbearable at this point she fell over completely. But in real life, somebody caught her. Her eyes snapped open to fall upon Sparda's concerned face.

"Claire what's wrong?" he asked quickly.

She blinked; both to refocus her blurry eyes and grasp her connection with Vergil had actually happened. She would have doubted it, had it not been as long and realistic as it was.

"Claire?" he was holding her up by her shoulders as he frantically searched her face for answers.

She was sweating a little, she found as she slowly brought her senses back, and the pain had left her by now.

"Sparda," the word was said without much clinging to it, except maybe a small shock he was in front of her.

"Are you all right?" he dropped one of his hands from her arm. "You were hunched over…looked like you were in pain?"

"It's nothing, just a stomach ache."

Amazement came to her in two forms. She was beside herself how quickly the lie came to her. Then it was her unshakable choice not to tell him what had actually happened.

"Claire, I don't mean to press but—"

"Just a stomach ache, Sparda," she looked away. "Among other things."

The demon studied the girl a moment longer.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to…I just want to be sure you're okay."

She gave a small smile and a quick glance his way.

"Thank you…needless to say I've got a lot on my plate right now, right?"

Though she added the laugh, he was weighed down by the heavy truth of her airy phrase. The sacrifices she continued to make for loving his son and himself and Andrew, like it was natural, were immeasurable.

"We got into a fight," she added, breaking his train of thought. "…well…more like I'm an idiot," she continued to call herself that.

When her tone slipped to a hint of sorrow, she brought a hand to her mouth and shook her head a little.

"I hit him…gosh I hate saying that out loud," she added quickly and fanned her hand back and forth before her face like she was suddenly overheated.

"You've hit him before," he echoed Karen's words. "So…?"

"Not like this, Sparda," she shook her head. "Not like this…I hurt him so much," she wiped fresh tears. "He was only trying to help."

Sparda scooted closer to her and brought her close with his arm.

"Oh you two…so young," he gave her arm a pat. "Have you had a chance to talk to him about it?"

"He probably hates me…" she mumbled.

"Go talk to him," he gave her a quick hug before getting up. "He definitely doesn't hate you. He'll forgive you in a heartbeat if he hasn't already."

"How can you be sure?" she wiped her eyes.

He leaned against the doorframe and gave her his brightest smile yet.

"The answer is on your left hand, Claire."

Shooting her eyes to her promise ring, she felt her heart flutter and her eyes growing wet again.

"Sparda—"

He had left her already, but with enough motivation, doubled with her mother's, to finally get her moving. She headed into her bathroom and splashed water over her face multiple times and rubbed at her eyes. Drying her face she poised herself before the mirror and shook out her hands.

"Get a grip, Claire," she then lightly smacked her cheeks. "He deserves an apology. And gosh, you're such a baby…crying all the freakin' time."

She made quick, rather silly looking, steps to her door and out she went. Bee-lining to his door, she paused before it and reached for the door knob, withdrew her hand, reached for it again, withdrew it again, and repeated this ridiculous process quite a few more times.

_'Open the stupid door, Claire. It's not gonna open itself.'_

She did a mental 3, 2, 1 and practically burst through the door. Just like the last time they were fighting, and she abruptly entered his room, she was met with the same sight. He stood before her with nothing more than a pair of red athletic shorts on his figure. He was shocked, looking over at her with his phone up to his ear.

"I'll call you back, Michael."

He ended the call and lowered his phone slowly, all while keeping his eyes on his girlfriend. Her face flared…and she was kinda wishing she could go hide in a hole for a little bit.

"I…I'm sorry," she managed. "It was uncalled for, Dante," she hung her head and looked at him through her bangs.

His eyes lost their astonishment and shrunk back to their normal size and he took a few steps towards her.

"You were only trying to help…"

Like she figured, she started to tremble a little and the waterworks came back. He took a few quick steps forward to hold her, like she knew he would, but she stepped back.

"No! Wait," she pleaded. "Please let me do this right."

"Claire, I forgive you…I should have respected your privacy. I shouldn't have pushed you."

"No way are you to blame!" she then shouted. "I'm the idiot here!"

He now lost his concern for the girl before him and put a hand to his hip, giving her an amused glance. It caught her off guard and managed to brighten her face.

"You're not an idiot," he said calmly.

"Am too! I lost control back there and actually hit you!"

"I already said I forgive you," he reminded her.

She bit her lip and wiped at her eyes, annoyed at how easy her emotions always got the better of her.

"Claire…"

His tone made her heart skip and he stole a quick breath.

"Can I hug you now?"

She brought both hands up to cover her face as she cried and he quickly brought her rightfully close in a firm embrace.

"I'm glad you're here…I think we could use some real 'us' time."

She nodded and let him lead her over to the bed where he sat and pulled her down, moving his legs apart so she was sitting on the bed. He breathed her in multiple times, his face buried in her hair. She leaned back into him, even though his chest was bare. She was sure at one point she wouldn't be able to take it and request he cover up…but right now she was content to have him holding her. She had already ruined enough that day. His hands broke their hold around her and traveled up her arms where they slowly started to massage her shoulder blades. Claire didn't realize she could relax her body further and closer into her boyfriend's, but his simple movements were turning her into jelly. He smiled when she let out a content hum. Soon, though, she was so relaxed against him that he couldn't massage her back anymore.

"You're making this difficult," he whispered past her ear.

"Why?"

"Here."

She finally snapped from her relaxed state when he moved from behind her and off the bed eventually. Turning, she saw him grab some pillows and lay them over each other until four were stacked two wide and two tall.

"Lay," he pointed.

"Why?"

"'Cause. Face down, please."

"Fine."

She knew she could trust the guy, but his mysterious ways always had her guessing what he was up to. She crawled over and did as she was told, crossing her arms underneath her head as she had her glace to the balcony windows. He left her visual field and she felt the bed moving. And when the bed sunk on either side of her, she knew he was positioned above her.

"Much easier for both of us," he commented before she felt his strong hands to her back again.

After a few minutes, she had once again melted to a pile of goo beneath his skilled handiwork.

"Why haven't I let you do this before?" she sighed.

He smiled and bent down to kiss her exposed neck, as he had moved her hair to the side.

"Why indeed."

She smiled more and closed her eyes.

"This is a lot more effective on bare skin," he then hinted.

"Don't push your luck, Dante," she replied simply.

He kept the laugh to himself and moved to slowly massage the sides of her neck.

"I feel like I should be paying for this."

"I only accept love as payment," he said in a goofily suave voice.

She finally let out her first real laughs in a while and shook her head.

"You're ridiculous."

"Or kisses," he bent down to her ear again.

"I'll think about it. Now get back to work."

"As you wish, milady."

She giggled again, and it always managed to make him smile more and his heart to flutter. Just the sight of her smile for him, or the laughter and sound of her voice in a loving or happy tone, was enough to make him feel so very alive.

"I'm surprised you haven't told me to cover up yet," he moved his hands to the tops of her shoulders.

"Me too."

He cracked a crooked grin.

"Getting pretty used to me now, eh?"

"I don't have to look at you right now…and I've told you it's not because I hate it. Or have you already forgotten?"

She was referring to the time he had torn off his shirt in their little fit of passion, and then stayed the night, where she woke up to his exposed torso.

"Oh no," he flattened and moved his palms in circles on her shoulder blades and up to the base of her neck. "I could never forget such beautiful words."

She blushed and turned her face a little more to hide it in the pillows.

"You're dumb," she said barely loud enough for a human to hear.

"I know."

Moments later he had finished his session for her and sat back onto his knees, "Your time is up. Please set up another appointment soon."

She smiled and sat up slowly, loving how relaxed and free of tension her body had become.

"That was wonderful," she stretched out.

Turning around, she faced him on her knees, but kept her eyes low a moment.

"Shirt time for me?" he asked.

He didn't expect her to shake her head to that. Her eyes moved up, scanning the fit half-demon's features before reaching his face. She moved close to him and brought a hand up to touch the place she had hit him. He read her actions right away and gave a smile.

"It's fine, Claire."

She laughed and shook her head.

"It's not…it's really not," she cupped his face. "You're such a dummy head."

He put a hand to one of hers and smiled more.

"Then what are you?" he moved his face closer.

"…"

He had kissed her before she could answer, placing a hand on her shoulder to bring her a little closer. They broke and she lowered her face, the tint taking over again. Her eyes focused on his body, really, for the first time without any hindrances. Giving him a surprise, she brought a timid hand up and placed it gently over his heart. At that moment, it was amazing for her to feel the rhythmic beating beneath her palm. She quieted and slowed her breathing down so she could fully take in each beat.

"You know…"

"Hmm?" he watched his girlfriend with wonder, trying to keep his pulse calmed at her touch.

Being so focused, she had felt the beats get a little faster.

"I really, really love you, Dante."

The combination of her loving touch and beautiful words was finally too much for him not to be kissing her. He put a hand to her right shoulder and his other moved to the bed and he gently pushed her down. Readjusting over her, their faces close, he put his hand to her face and searched her eyes. He waited for any signs of discomfort that he was bare.

"…Claire…" he whispered, his lips gently brushing hers.

She responded by raking her hands through her favorite platinum locks of his and closing the distance. Their kisses were long and slow, both enjoying themselves and glad to take their time. It gave him both a mental and physical jolt when her hands, which had been slowly moving down from the start, finally reached his bare shoulders. Amazed further, she didn't stop there. They timidly flowed down before coming to a rest against his chest. He couldn't hold back the growing sigh of content at her touch. He broke the kiss, breathless a minute, and buried his face in her neck. Her hands moved around to his back and she brought him closer, closing her eyes as new emotions poured over her.

"I love you so much," she whispered.

The shake in her voice spiked his heartbeat and he came to terms she was trying her best to keep her cool. It overwhelmed him and he moved his face to bury it in the pillow. They took the following moments to calm their hearts through deep breaths.

"Probably shirt time," she finally said.

He laughed into the pillow and she smiled. Dante removed himself with his super speed and he was by his dresser before she could gather he was no longer over her. Sitting up, she watched him pull out the second drawer from the top and pick out a red plain shirt.

"Red…really suits you," she tilted her head, amazed at how perfect the color was on him.

"It's my favorite," he adjusted it and returned to the bed.

He crawled over and quickly kissed her between her giggles before she playfully pushed him away.

"I'm beat," she stretched. "Bed time for me."

"Stay with me," he blurted out.

She paused, mid stretch, and watched him. He was smiling that simple yet spectacular grin that she knew she couldn't refuse.

"Did you get my dad's permission?" she teased.

He frowned.

"I was told to never ask when you already know the answer."

She burst out laughing at his seriousness and hit his side with a pillow.

"I'll stay with you," she got off the bed while he grew wide eyes to her answer.

"Where's Samson?" she turned back to him and laughed again at his expression.

"For real?" he crawled towards her in shock.

"For real," she repeated in a goofy tone. "Where's my kitty?"

"This is the best day of my life."

She shook her head at her silly boyfriend.

"You're not helping," she headed to the door and poked her head in the hallway.

Conveniently enough, Samson was right outside the door, apparently waiting to come in since she had shut the door to apologize earlier.

"Hi buddy," she picked him up and nuzzled his face with hers. "We're gonna sleep in here with Dante tonight."

"I'm gonna go buy a lottery ticket," came his comment.

"Oh my gosh stop it," she put Samson down on the bed.

Like he had been there a million times, he immediately headed over and sat in Dante's lap.

"Awwww," she sat across from two of her favorite guys and petted her cat. "He's really taken a liking to you. I'll be back. Gotta get his food and water dishes."

In the time it took her to go to her room and come back, Samson had moved to the top right of the large bed and already assumed his position for sleepy time.

"Pinch me," Dante sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at her in awe. "When you left I didn't think you'd come back."

"Really, Dante?" she sat her cats dishes down and stood before him with crossed arms and a tilted glance. "You gonna do this all night?"

He hopped to his feet and quickly kissed her. She only could only grip his shirt before he pulled back.

"Love you," he rubbed her nose with his.

She ruffled his hair and left his arms, finally getting in bed. He quickly, and with much overacted excitement, turned off the lights and rushed over to the other side of the bed and got under the covers with her, careful to not disturb Samson. With her attention tuned in to getting under the covers and positioning her pillow, her boyfriend had moved once again under her radar. She was in his embrace and pulled as close as possible before her head could hit the pillow. The arm that draped over her reached down and intertwined its hand with hers.

"Love you," she sighed sleepily.

"Love you too, Babygirl. So very much. Thank you for staying with me tonight."

"As long as you don't do anything," she hinted.

He smiled into her hair.

"Not tonight at least."

She shook her head.

"At least you're honest."

Claire, like she would always do, drifted off first. Not needing the sleep as often as humans, Dante was content to choose whether he would get some that night or cherish the feel of his most precious girlfriend in his arms. All the peaceful elements of the night melded together to lure even the half-demon's eyes down, where sleep drifted slowly over him like water over a creek bed. The young couple would find themselves wanting the moment to last forever as, come tomorrow; their lives would change forever.

**Sunday, May 19****th**** 12:37 A.M.**

**We've reached the start of the epic finale, come next chapter. Beyond excited we've finally got here. **


	42. Forsaken

**All I'm gonna say is PLEASE don't hate me.**

Andrew, Sparda, Eva, Claire and Dante's days after the barrier weren't peaceful. They had faced enough hardships that either resulted in near death experiences, or further moved them away from the answers they were looking for. Each day tested their endurance, both mentally and physically, as well as their relationship with one another. Whether or not they were ready, they would have no more time to worry, plan, rest or train. Sanctus was done giving them their chances through sudden meetings. He was ready to make a move.

It happened while they were having a quiet lunch on the deck. Dante, Andrew and Sparda had actually trained with Claire that morning. They tested her reflexes through hand-to-hand combat and measured her concentration and focus through meditation of her powers and emotions. Claire retired to show and dressed down, choosing no dress for the day, but a comfy pair of pink shorts and a dark purple tank top. She put her hair up in a simple ponytail. Sparda had wanted to talk a little more about the topics of yesterday after lunch. But it wasn't to be.

There came a bright flash in the distance that caught all their eyes, before a shockwave knocked them down. The windows of the house shattered immediately. Sparda and Andrew teamed up to shield Eva from flying glass and the force the shock wave was still emitting, while Dante had pushed Claire to the ground and climbed on top of her, keeping his weight up on his forearms. It took moments for them to adjust to the energy against them, before they finally came to their feet. Again, Sparda and Andrew helped Eva up while Dante picked Claire up and held her close. Before any could question what was happening, the unthinkable came to fruition. The flash they had seen was a tall beam of ominous red and black energy reaching to the sky and up to the barrier. All jaws dropped when they realized the point of this energy. Before their very eyes, the barrier was dispelling. It grew cracks like a dry riverbed and slowly broke apart and faded like dust.

Claire leapt into action, only to have Dante grab her arm and pull her back. He pulled her flush and assumed a vice grip. She looked up at him to protest but was met with pleading yet firm eyes that wished she would, for once, let him keep her back and out of danger. She bit her lip with reluctance and looked up as the barrier continued to come down. The energy pushing them back had been dying down more and more as the time ticked, and now they could stand on their own and hear again.

"How could he take out the barrier?" Andrew started. "Hell, forget that…better question is where the hell all this power of his is coming from!"

"We gotta stop him," Claire said quickly.

In a flash, the three demons and Claire felt a pang shoot across their senses and knew Vergil was with him.

"Sparda," Andrew turned to him. "What do we do here?"

He watched the barrier start to die out of their field of vision and knew they needed to do something quickly.

"We have no choice. We'll decide when we get there!"

He picked Eva up and started towards the slowly shrinking tower of dark energy, with Andrew on his heels.

"Damnit," Dante growled. "This is it!"

Before Claire could beg to be taken, he shocked her by immediately picking her up and following suit. Never before had he moved that fast. Claire's eyes had adjusted to their travels this way, but this was even too much for her and she tucked her face into his chest. He felt her tuck her head and her hand grip his shirt. They flew across open fields and various patches of trees before they realized the familiar path they were on; having taken it a million times they were surprised they didn't realize it sooner. They were heading to the lake.

And when Dante took one last giant leap through the last batch of forestry, the full view of the lake was before them. Beside the lake was the campground, which was a large flat area of land. The energy was in the middle of that area, and had wiped it clean of everything. No signs, bathrooms, fire pits or even grass remained. It looked like a wildfire had just past through. The ground was charred and smoking in some areas. Beyond the disappearing energy, they spotted Sanctus and Vergil.

Coming to a skidding stop, they were beside Sparda, Eva and Andrew mere seconds after they stopped, and a good 10 or so yards from The faux priest and half-demon. Sparda reached down and quickly kissed Eva, much to her surprise before turning and handing her to Andrew. He quietly told his friend to get her somewhere safe and return to the fight they knew was coming. The two leapt out of sight and Dante finally let Claire down, but assumed another vice grip on her. She reached up and gripped his arms assuredly, figuring it best to go along with his wishes for now. The decision not to have told them about her dialogue with Vergil was probably not the best idea. While they could only guess if Vergil was being controlled, she knew. And she also knew, according to the conflicted half-demon, she was the only one who could save him. But it was too late to talk now.

"Sorry," Sanctus started. "Was quite the disgusting decoration. Had to come down."

"What are you planning?" Sparda took a step forward.

"Do you feel you deserve to know?" he tilted his head with a laugh. "Patience, Sparda. You'll all know in time. But first…" his cold eyes moved over to latch on to Claire's and he held out his hand, like she would just walk over to him in acceptance.

She shuddered and Dante gripped her tighter and took a couple steps back with her.

"I'll need to take care of her."

"Gonna have to tell ya to **** off on that one," Dante growled.

Sanctus sighed and dropped his inviting hand.

"Why do you want her?" Andrew asked, after finally getting back.

"So many questions," he brought his eyes back to hers. "Boring."

"Cause I can kill you, I know."

Claire's sudden comment and the serious and convicting tone behind it, caught them all off guard.

"While I don't know why, and I'm still trying to figure out how…I **know** I can kill you."

He grimaced and fired a quick bolt, which Dante picked her up and avoided easily. It was a warning shot.

"Vergil!" she then shouted.

The half-demon looked over at her with amusement and question. She knew he was most likely back under Sanctus's complete control, but she was gonna get through to him and save him this time. No more running.

"Sit tight," she flashed a competitive smile. "I **will** save you this time."

Vergil gave a smirk and a quick laugh.

"Save me from what, exactly?"

She actually smiled more, clearly in the know. The look that flashed across Sanctus's face showed he didn't like what he was hearing.

"You will keep away from her," he turned to Vergil. "She is mine. Kill those three."

"No problem, my lord," he drew his Yamato.

Hearing that simple reply really set in stone the realization of Vergil's situation. Sparda looked over to Andrew and gave a nod.

"Seems our speculation was right."

"Gonna be harder to fight if we can't kill him," Andrew called his sword to him, as did Dante and Sparda.

"Dante, I'm gonna fight," Claire looked up at him.

He was silent and kept his eyes on Sanctus, knowing he was the one who would be coming after Claire with everything he had.

"You can't protect me and yourself. I'll be fine."

He didn't have the luxury to argue with her or prove her wrong, when Vergil leapt forward and separated them with a burst of energy. Claire, as did Dante, managed to land on their feet and get ready for the next attack. Sparda and Dante got caught up first in Vergil's sword attacks while Andrew quickly jumped in front of Claire.

"I said I'll be fine!" Claire started. "You can't all—"

Sanctus was done sitting on the sidelines and shot forward easily throwing a punch of concentrated energy up into Andrew's stomach. He let out a grunt before shooting away and far across the ground.

"Andrew!" Claire had turned to help him but Sanctus shot in front of her.

"I've been waiting a while to have you all to myself."

"That makes two of us," she surprised him with her sincerity.

She calmed herself and her heart, focusing her mind, body and energy. He shot at her faster than a blink but shocked him when she had her arms up and ready. He managed to hit the barrier of her strange abilities. She didn't know what he was trying to accomplish by hitting her, knowing he would only cause pain to himself at her touch. Much to the astonishment of Dante, Sparda, Vergil, and Andrew, as he finally was getting up from the blow, she dodged every attack he threw her way. While Claire had said she was glad to have alone time with Sanctus, she was partially lying. It was nice to be going blow by blow with the demon, but her mind was elsewhere. Waiting for the moment to switch it up a little came for her, and she took to action. Andrew leaped back in to the fight and distracted Sanctus long and well enough for Claire to charge her energy and direct it at him. Andrew was surprised when his opponent was sudden shot out of view in the blink of an eye, thrown a good 50 yards away.

"Do your best to keep him busy!" Claire shouted to him before turning back and speeding towards the family feud.

Vergil was more than holding his own against his father and brother. His speed and strength seemed to have increased since their last encounter, and Claire could only assume Sanctus put as much control on him as he could to keep him from being overrun by whatever it was Claire possessed that could turn him otherwise. She didn't expect her plan to go right on the first try, so she was pleasantly surprised for once. Dante and Sparda clashed their swords to Vergil's and held them there as they pushed him back. Without hesitation, Claire shot forward and tackled him to the ground and assumed a vice grip on him.

"Claire, what—!"

"Keep Sanctus back!" she cried. "I'm gonna put and end to this now!"

Sparda immediately obliged her request and Dante did as well after a moment's hesitation.

"Get off me!" the half-demon struggled. "What is this?"

She intelligently embraced his arms as well, making sure he wouldn't be able to slice her in the few moments it would take for Claire to test her theory, and the theory that everyone had assumed on her. She was about to find out if she really was capable of bringing Vergil back. Her hold tightened before she came to life with an explosion of her energy. Sanctus had been charging forth past the three, despite their combined effort, only to be forced to jump back as the light and force of Claire's energy shot past him. She was pushing out a magnitude they hadn't seen from her yet; clearly she wasn't holding anything back. She intended to do this right the first time. While it hurt Sanctus to even look at it directly, the others felt overwhelmingly calm and warm as the beams of golden energy shot past them.

"Vergil," she spoke calm and quiet, despite the loud rushing of power she was producing. "I'm here. I'm here to bring you back."

His body had started to grow limp for a while now, and she finally trusted he was tame enough to detach one of her arms. She moved back enough to place her hand directly over his heart. Instinct was calling the actions, as she just felt it was the place she should really be focusing her powers to. She jolted when his hand moved up and fell upon the one she was holding to his heart.

"Vergil!" she shouted. "Is it working? Give me something here!"

His hand squeezed hers, "C-Claire…"

"I'm here! Vergil, I'm right here!"

"Keep going," he sounded like it was hard for him to breathe.

"Count on it!"

She dug deep and closed her eyes. All too soon, her connection shattered when Sanctus had his way. The three had been doing their best to hold him back, doubled with the effect that Claire's energy had on him. However, he resorted to his many tricks and found an attack that could still reach her even when he couldn't. The spear of energy was concentrated enough to have the necessary power to throw her off Vergil and stop her channel of energy. He had to concentrate it because it slowly lost power as it traveled through the Claire's golden rays. She hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop. Getting up and regaining her senses was difficult with the amount of energy she just spent. As the last traces of her energy faded, along with the cloud of dirt and dust from the faux-priest's attack, Vergil could finally be seen. He was still and his eyes were closed. She attempted to get to her feet but was dropped to her knees, very lightheaded. Her body needed to recharge, but there was no time. She started to crawl back to him. By chance, she caught another spear headed her way and barely managed to dive out of the impact zone. Like the last, she was thrown again. She heard a few choice words of anger from Dante as the three continued to do their best to keep him away from her.

"Come on, Claire," she started, pushing herself up to all fours. "You can do it…get up."

Another spear was sent her way but Sparda managed to knock it way off target with a last-minute swipe of his sword.

"CLAIRE!"

Her heart spiked into her throat. Her ears immediately recognized that voice, but her mind refused to accept it.

"CLAIRE!"  
She turned her head around and her blood ran cold. It was the furthest thing from her mind at the time; under other circumstances it would have been no surprise. The timing was beyond dire, but the barrier was no longer holding anyone back. Coming into view was her parents. Looking around herself a moment, others started to show up as well. She started to panic. The death toll was about the skyrocket if nothing was done. Her adrenaline began pumping. Her parents were less than a football field away. Her body felt like it was being torn apart, but she knew it had to be done. She let out a shout, both of pain and to force the energy, and smacked her hand to the ground. Her powers did the job she wanted, though she was finding it hard to concentrate and make them do what she wanted. In mere seconds, a new barrier shot up around the campsite, expanding a square mile at best. It went up much faster than her last one, but it was also a lot less powerful and stable. Though, she knew it was the best she could do. Seconds later, her parents reached her and fell to the ground.

"Claire! My God, Honey, what happened to you!" her father started. "What's going on!?"

She was battered and exhausted, and while everything in her screamed rest, she knew that wasn't an option. The energy she had left had to be used to get back to Vergil. Ignoring the frantic cries of her parents, she turned away from them without a word and started to army crawl back to the half-demon. He was now on all fours, holding a hand to his forehead. As she slowly moved across the charred ground, more and more people were arriving at the barrier. They were running out of time. If they didn't end this soon, people were going to start dying by the hundreds. It was more painful knowing that among the dead would be her parents. It was enough to keep her moving despite the intense jabs of pain her nerves were firing through every inch of her being. From behind, a new set of voices joined the shouts of her parents. She needn't look to face the hard truth that Dante and her friends had also just arrived.

With a mighty blast of energy, all three of them were shot back to the ground. Sanctus looked up at the barrier, over and Claire and then to Vergil, who was now on his knees, looking at nothing in particular, in a daze-like state.

"How long do you plan to lie there, you pathetic half-demon?" he said in a low voice. "I believe I told you to take care of them."

Vergil didn't respond, and continued to stare in front of him, void of movement. Sanctus's brow twitched in anger before he let out an uncharacteristic shout of ire.

**"You vile girl."**

He shot eyes of acid at her as he charged up another spear. Unlike the others, he put a lot into this one. So much, that it turned tuxedo black as black streaks like lightening ran across it.

"Watch, as the fruits of your labor are wasted."

Her eyes widened as he turned his attention to Vergil.

"I should have known you would be useless to me," he raised the spear. "You damn half-demon."

She attempted to crawl faster, whimpers and breathes of pain leaving her in combinations.

**"Now die."**

He took a quick step forward and threw his arm out, casting the spear forward to kill Vergil. She screamed, and something within her burst. She was up, in an instant. She ran as fast as she could, each step like running on knives while her heart pounded so hard it banged like a gong in her head. Vergil remained lifeless on his knees, not even giving a reaction to the spear coming to claim his life. She gave the last she could. Her hand shot out, palm open, with a very concentrated blast, mixed with her precious and depleting life energy. Her eyes then fixed on the half-demon before her. The blast missed the spear but nailed the unsuspecting Sanctus directly. He was cast back with amazing force. Letting out all the air in her lungs, she turned to the side and jumped through the air. Her shoulder made contact with Vergil and shot him off the ground. The impact stilled her forward movement just enough. A sound like getting punched in the gut escaped her mouth, along with a large collection of her blood. The spear caught her just below the heart as he shot her back a little ways before shooting through fully and disintegrating. Her body hit the ground, and she coughed up even more blood.

**"CLAIRE!"**

The shout came from many places, but no voice reached her ears more than Dante's. He was beside her instantly and reached down to pull her into his lap. She whimpered, eyes half-lidded, as he used the top of his leg to put pressure on the back of her wound, with his hand on the top.

"No, no, no, no, no," he repeated, looking her over frantically. "Claire, God no…"

Beyond them, Claire's parents were screaming themselves mute, along with their friends. They punched and kicked at the barrier to get through.

"I…"

His eyes shot to hers.

"…screwed up."

"Don't talk!" he said quickly. "It's gonna be okay."

Despite the pain, she gave a smile.

"…liar."

"No, no, no," he shook his head. "Just gotta give it a minute. You'll start healing like you always do."

She shook her head.

"Why did you—?"

His voice broke and he shook his head, eyes pressed shut a moment.

"…love you."

"I said stop talking," he readjusted his hand that was applying pressure.

She choked a little, blood pooling out of her mouth. She spit most of it up, before wincing and letting out gasps for air.

"I'm so sorry."

She practically gasped the statement out, much to further his dismay.

"What did I say—?"

"I am."

Her words were coming out in combinations of gasps and cries.

"I love you so much!"

That last forced statement brought more blood out of her mouth and shot some up past Dante's hand. He looked down in horror to see the majority of her clothes stained, his hand very warm from the constant fresh flow, and the pool forming beneath him. Tears started to fall from her eyes. The position of his hand allowed him to feel her slowly heartbeat. It was now at a point that was close to stopping. Her breathing was also slowing, and her eyes started to cloud.

"I said stay with me here, Claire," his voice shook horribly.

She reached up a slow and trembling hand to cup his cheek, and her eyes went wide. Never before in her life, human form or true half-demon form, had she ever seen Dante cry. His eyes were wet, and a single tear had slipped down his cheek.

"D-Dante…"

"I can't…I can't lose you," he started to come to terms with the situation.

It was an honest assumption her powers would kick in and she would start to heal on her own. However, it seemed that there were some injuries that couldn't be reversed.

"Not you," he bent down and touched his forehead to hers. "You're everything…you're my life…not you…"

"I'm scared."

Her statement shattered his heart. He pulled back to look at her.

"…no," he shook his head, back in denial. "We'll get through this."

The hand cupping his cheek started to slide.

"…love y—"

At once, her chest rose high, before the breath was released slowly. Her eyes lowered and then shut and the hand on his face fell lifelessly to the ground. He forgot how to breathe as his heart wrenched and his mind started to accept the truth.

Claire Lynn Summers was dead.

**Thursday, May 23****rd**** 2:23 A.M.**


	43. Desolate

**You guys rock! The reviews keep these coming fast! Two in one day? That's a record! It also helps that I've been away from work. I've lost my voice and I work at a radio station…doesn't really work! It's the NEXT chapter that I have BEEN WAITING FOREVER TO GET TO! It's finally getting written and I can't wait to get it out for you guys! Thanks and enjoy!**

"Claire."

He spent the next seconds looking down at her closed eyes. Then he reached for her hand that was holding his cheek and brought it back up and held it there.

"Claire."

He gently released it, as if he was expecting her to hold it up. When it started to fall he let out a mix between a whimper and a sharp gasp. He laid it on her stomach and cupped her face in his hand, suddenly aware of how much her temperature had dropped.

"…come on…Claire."

He also seemed to come to terms with how much blood was on his hand and around him. The sight of blood, he was used to. It was something he had grown up around and lived with his whole life. He could kill hoards of demons and be covered in the crimson spray, but the mere sight of Claire's all over him caught in his throat. He coughed, hard; almost to the point of vomiting. He covered his mouth then quickly withdrew his hand, rubbing it furiously across the ground, trying to clean it. His eyes grew wet again when he looked at her face. This crying was so alien to him. He bent down and kissed her, holding it, again thinking she'll just react. He pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers, now sobbing freely.

"…no….no, no…no!" he cried. "Not you…Claire you can't die! You've done nothing wrong…why do you have to die!"

He threw his head and screamed at the heavens.

"You hear me God! Why her? I'm the dumb*** here! Take me! How could you—"

He slumped over, eyes pouring out.

"You weren't supposed to die! Why did you—"

He then whirled his head around to stare at Vergil, who had seemingly come to. He was on all fours again, staring in utter shock at Dante and Claire.

"Because of you!" Dante spat. "She died to save your sorry ***. You bastard!"

Andrew and Sparda were absolutely distraught, absolutely beside themselves as they watched Dante writhe in agony. Even more so, they were stunned that Claire was actually gone. There wasn't even a hint of her life energy left.

In the distance, Eva, who had actually landed just outside the barrier Claire created, was on her knees, crying uncontrollably. She could only see what was going on, with the occasional shout from her son reaching her. It was enough to know what had happened.

James and Karen had never felt such anguish. Karen had fallen to the ground, her legs no longer worked. James caught her and brought her close as she wailed, screaming her daughter's name over and over. James had given up trying to calm her, as control slowly left him as well. He cried and buried his face into his wife's arm, no longer bearing to look over at her body.

"Damnit!"

The shout came from Sparda, who slammed his sword into the ground and fell to one knee. He buried his face in his hand. Andrew clenched his jaw and looked away. The moment couldn't last forever. From the rubble far away, Sanctus got up. He was slow; the final blow from Claire had not only shot him back but also pierced him through, like he had done to her. Only he had survived. He walked towards the scene, unaware that his ultimatum had been fulfilled. He saw Sparda kneeled over, Andrew looking away, and then finally…

"What's this?"

His voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Everyone jolted out of misery and bore sad, terrified and murderous eyes his way. Amused yet curious of the expressions, he finally spied Claire's body in Dante's arms. He stared, searching for any signs of life. Upon realization, his laughter came in bellows.

"Unreal!" he cried. "To think it was that easy! Looks like you can be useful!" he shot a glance at Vergil, who was now on his feet.

The final shreds of sanity snapped within Dante's mind. He lowered Claire to the ground and stood. All eyes shot his way when he was engulfed in a red aura. Seeing Claire almost die the first time, a while back, was enough to spark the demon side forth. But now she **was** dead, and Sanctus had crossed the line too far. His blood-red demonic roots shot off his body in pulsating waves, almost clouding his form from view. As soon as it started, it was suddenly stopped…by the most unexpected person.

"DANTE NO!"

Vergil speared his brother to the ground and pinned his arms.

"Get a hold of yourself!"

Sanctus, Sparda and Andrew stood by speechless. Dante snarled and struggled beneath, his demon side continuing to come to the front.

"You let that side run the show, you'll be as good as dead!"

Dante flipped Vergil to his back and released his arms. He sent a deafening punch that destroyed the earth beside his brother's head, before Vergil gave him a head-butt and reversed their positions again.

"What would Claire want, huh!" he shouted. "You think she'd want you to lose it like—"

Dante landed the punch clean this time, sending him flying off and to the ground where he landed on his back.

"All right," Vergil coughed a little and got to his feet. "I probably deserved that one."

Dante shot at him and he braced for the impact, only to see he wasn't the target. He shot past him and threw a punch at Sanctus, who put a hand up and caught it with ease. With each passing second, more and more of Dante's human side drowned under the growing presence of his demonic blood. His skin had started to turn into the thick black texture that his father and Andrew shared in their true forms. His eyes shone like rubies illuminated by the sun.

"You idiot!" Vergil shouted.

Sparda whirled around to his recently controlled son, wondering if his recent actions and words symbolized he was finally performing to his own free will.

"Hey, Old Man!" Vergil shouted when he saw his dad's gaze upon him. "Don't just stand there, stop him!"

"Are you back?" he asked dumbstruck.

"Yeah, pop the champagne!" he said with sarcasm. "Not the time to celebrate!"

Vergil leapt past him, and Sparda and Andrew reacted, finally. In another turn of events, Sanctus would actually be the one to stop the transformation, in the worst way. The demon slammed his hand to the ground, where spikes shot up and pierced Dante countless times through. The attack was the same Sanctus had used on Sparda before he almost killed him. In a flash, his demonic aura left him and he resorted back to half-demon form. The trio shouted his name in shock of the drastic attack, ultimately letting their own guards down. He slammed his hand to the ground again, and stopped them all with the same attack. They let out grunts and coughs of pain as the spikes shot through every appendage on their body. The people watching started to panic at what they were seeing. Some ran away, others screamed in shock and some had their cameras out watching, but at the same time were stricken with terror.

"D—Damnit Sanctus," Sparda tried to free himself.

Sanctus merely swiped his hand through the air, causing more needles to shoot up into the demon king.

"I see she put up another barrier. Such a weak one too."

With another grace of his hand, the barrier flashed bright before breaking away like glass. The onlookers jumped back in shock. Karen and James didn't care for their safety anymore. If they were to die there, it would not matter. Likewise, Dante, who was slowly coming back to his senses, took on the same likelihood. With Claire gone, he saw no reason to keep on living. Their friends were on the ground absolutely beside themselves. The three girls had watched their best friend die before them, while the guys watched Dante turn into a monster before getting struck through every inch of his body, it seemed. The fear swelled up within each of them, and yet they couldn't move. Their bodies were too overrun with peril and despair.

"An audience…how quaint," he took a good look around them. "An audience for your deaths."

Even the will to struggle was too much for the three anymore. Blood was pooling beneath them, dropping off their bodies like dew drops off leaves. Eva had come running into view, crying out to her family in fear for their lives.

"Ah, the wife," he looked at Sparda. "Touching."

"Eva…no!"  
Sanctus shot his hand out and cast a powerful burst her way. She was hit directly, and cast back, arguably, as far as where she was placed by Andrew.

"No!" Sparda shouted the word, but it ended in gasps for breath.

"A preview," Sanctus waved his hand like he was showing something on display. "Let me finally answer your question. I plan to open the portal to hell. This will be my new kingdom. The demons will run free and feast to their hearts content. Everything holding me back has been taken care of," he glanced at Claire's body. "You are just formalities."

"**** off, you twisted bastard."

The comment was barely managed by Dante, drawing the demon's attention.

"Still got some left in you," he slowly moved and stood before the half-demon. "I'll take that as a request to die first."

"Better than staring at you, you ugly sack of ****."

"How foolish," he sighed.

"Go blow yourself," Vergil added his two cents.

"Next in line," Sanctus drew his sword. "It will bring me such pleasure, killing your own sons in front of you, old friend."

Sparda could only force out a sound of pain, with another fresh spray of blood. He slowly lifted the blade as he moved to the side for the parallel blow. With an acidic smile, he thrust his hand down. Sparks flew, when it came in contact with a barrier. It sent him stumbling back a few steps.

"What is this?" he shouted.

Stepping back up, he brought his sword down again, only to have the same affect.

"So you have some left in you still," he glowered.

Dante was silent in shock, as he wasn't responsible for the defensive effort that saved his life. They were all reeling. Only seconds later did Dante gasp. He would have wondered the extreme possibility, had he been in a better state of health. He knew he had seen that before…they all had. Just then, the spikes holding them prisoner, started to dissolve to dust in the air. They were slowly lowered; Sanctus took a couple steps back in confusion as all his work vanished. He went to spew anger, but all that left his lips was a cough; a hiccup of utter bewilderment. His eyes rivaled half-dollars. Following his gaze, the three pushed themselves up on their elbows, only to immediately mirror his reaction. With all the commotion centered towards the makeshift gallows they had become, nobody was looking elsewhere.

Nobody saw her get up.

**Thursday, May 23****rd**** 11:50p.m.**


	44. The Awakening

**The CLIMAX! Questions start to get answered. Happy Memorial Day everyone! God Bless : )**

Sanctus actually took a couple steps back as he reeled in shock. Dante's heart was beating loud into his ears; it shook his whole body.

She was standing, the bloodstains still covering her body, the hole in her shirt still there from the injury that took her life, the final tears that had yet to fall moved slowly down her face.

"C…"

A lump formed in his throat as he took in the sight of his beloved girlfriend, who undeniably died moment's earlier, standing still with the wind slowly moving her hair.

"Claire…Claire!"

He would have deemed all of this a nightmare trying to become a dream, but the pain of her passing was too real to dwell within his conscious alone. And there had been too many times he should have woke up. But the reality just couldn't be…reality. Surely, she had died.

"How can this be!" Sanctus cried.

He sloppily shot a blast her way, only to stumble backwards to the ground in fear and shock. It hit a barrier before her, without any movements on her part. Her face didn't change, she didn't move, her eyes were focused before her. In the seconds that followed, Dante finally gathered himself enough to find her gaze was on him. His heart swelled.

It was a group effort on the sidelines to keep each other from slipping into shock. Karen and James gripped each other as if they would die detached. Jordan had gathered Madison and Sarah close. The move was to help keep them conscious, but it was also to keep her stable and aware that they were witnessing something that completely threw logic to the wind. They had finally started to accept that demons were real…but now this? The guys were on their knees, staring at Dante, who had just avoided death, and then to Claire, who had seemingly come back from it.

All eyes shot to her and gasps were emitted, when she finally moved. She slowly brought her right hand up and placed it over her heart. Letting in and out a long breath, she came to life in her infamous golden light. It was subtle at first. Her hair and clothes started to flow and the light got bolder, brighter, and more powerful. Soon, it branched out far past her body, overtaking her family and friends, and then the whole area. To each who felt it, they were flooded with warmth and a befalling peace. Like warm waves of water dancing over them, they slowly felt their bodies relaxing. The wounds suffered in battle started to fade and disappear, along with the pain, as Sparda, Dante and Andrew felt their strength returning. All of this was the exact opposite of what Sanctus went through.

It felt like acid had been thrown on him. His skin burned as his head pounded. His legs gave out, despite his need and desire to escape the light. He screamed as he writhed in the agony. No sooner did the experiences come to all, than did the light start to fade. As bright as it was, nobody was blinded by it, they simply couldn't see. It was like being in a pure golden room. All eyes focused on her, and the surprise was shared again.

No longer was she in the purple tank top and pink shorts that were tattered, bloody and worn. No. Taking all of her in, there wasn't a spec of dirt or blood to be seen. Instead, she was beatific in her radiance. The glow had subsided, yet remained enough to outline her figure, and now it was pure white. The most noticeable difference was the simple, yet astoundingly beautiful white dress she was now wearing. Two thin white straps connected to the body of a dress with no patterns or stiches. It merely hung tight on her torso and fanned out just past her knees, flowing like satin drapes in the wind. There was one last piece missing. The hand still to her heart suddenly clenched into a fist, and the final pieces completed the puzzle. With that simple movement, none needed to guess what she was anymore.

They burst from her back like dolphins breaking the surface of serene waters. Everyone was taken aback by the sudden explosion of the pure white light. They fanned out once, before coming to rest fully extended. She unclenched her fist and slowly dropped her arm back to her side. Finally, Claire had come alive; she had awakened. Struggling to accept her fate, she had begun her destiny. Standing before all, she was complete, she was perfect and she was ready to save the world. If a demon threatened to destroy the world, she would be the angel to stop it.

"Wings," Dante whispered.

There was a lot fueling his shock, and the shock of every witness there. But, rightfully so, there was another aspect he was taking in.

"Angel," Sparda shook his head incredulously. "…an actual…I can't believe it!"

Dante couldn't believe Claire truly was the divine being. But right now, he had to calm his heart and come to grips with how absolutely dazzling, brilliant and elegant she had become. The more he stared, the more his pulse pounded, his breathes became erratic and the temperature of his body rose.

"Incredible," Andrew whispered.

Vergil found no words sufficient, and continued to stare in shock. There were demons, so there were angels. Two sides that completed the same coin. There was not one without the other. However, none of them had ever seen one in person; they were more a legend than anything. And if the demons were in shock, the humans were stupefied.

And this was exactly the case back on the sidelines. Those who could manage were whispered the word 'angel' over and over, as if they needed verification that their eyes didn't deceive them. The hung jaw was common and nobody was left standing. Just the sight of Claire before them was enough to bring all to their knees.

All were captivated when she finally moved from her position. With slow and graceful steps, the energy drifting off her like glitter, she moved towards the demons. Sanctus was too terrified to move at this point, and it appeared that just laying eyes on Claire's true form had him defeated. It took Vergil a moment to finally grasp her eyes were on his, and her steps were towards him. When she kneeled before him, he was overwhelmed with feelings. Just her presence sent his sensations into overdrive. Though on his knees, he started to feel pleasantly lightheaded. Before he could think, breathe, speak or act, she moved forward and pulled him flush against her in an embrace.

Dante, Sparda and Andrew's eyes widened at the gesture. Vergil suddenly went limp, his head fell onto her shoulder and his breathing dropped down and fell into a pattern once more.

"I'm sorry."

Just the sound of her voice made everyone's heart skip. It was different than they remembered. She had always had a pleasant tone. But now there was something else mixed with it. Just the tone seemed to set the listener's heart at ease. It was harmonious like bells. It was soothing.

"Vergil, I'm so sorry," she continued. "You were trapped. Crying out for help for so long. I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner."

She maneuvered a hand from his back to his heart.

"I'll finish what I started, Vergil. He still has some control over you. There's still darkness in your heart. Just relax, I won't let him hurt you anymore."

Never feeling such euphoria, Vergil let his eyes shut, as he further melted into her caring arms. From her hand, the white light started to grow. Her wings slowly came down and surrounded them both like an embrace. The sight was majestic and awe-inspiring, but three demons saw the biggest shock when Vergil reached up and embraced her back. She smiled, slowly starting to pull back.

"Claire…I…"

She shook her head slowly and put a hand to his face.

"Rest now. I'll take care of everything."

Seeing a chance and hoping to turn the tables, Sanctus threw his hand up and shot a solid tunnel of black and red energy at her.

"No!" Sparda attempted to reach in time, only to skid to a stop and see how much he was no longer needed. Keeping the hand to Vergil's heart, she merely raised her other up and deflected his attack up to the sky.

"Unreal," Andrew shook his head. "She's amazing..."

Dante started to understand the incredible power his girlfriend was harnessing beneath her beauty and splendor. It seemed everything they had speculated to this point was reality. She would be the one to kill Sanctus.

Like she had done a simple task, Claire then reached up and took Vergil's arms and gently placed them in his lap before she got up and started walking past him to her next mission. Vergil could only continue to stare in front of him, reveling in the feeling that all ties to Sanctus had been finally cut. He was free.

The three could only watch in silence as she walked past them, unsure where she was going. By chance, Sanctus got to his feet, letting out a cough of pain. She turned to him with stern eyes that looked outstandingly out of character on her true form. With a simple wave of her hand, a slash of light cut across Sanctus' form, swiping like a blade across his torso and shooting fresh blood into the air. She intended to keep him where he was a little longer. She wanted him to see how pathetic he had become, how impossible his desires were now and she wanted him to watch her undo all his wrongs.

Finally, Claire stopped and held out her hand. Only then, did eyes fly ahead of her to behold Eva. She was completely unscathed from the faux-priest's attack and standing of her own freewill. The young mother seemed to be the least shocked at what Claire had become. While there was a hint of amazement, she smiled at Claire's outstretched hand and took it.

"I'm so glad I came back in time," she referred to the blast Sanctus had sent Eva's way. "Are you okay?"

Eva could only smile, tears stained her face and more were on their way. She nodded. Only smiling more, Claire turned back to Sparda, silently asking him to come over for Eva. Sparda could find no words to describe the relief at seeing his wife alive. He had fell into the pits of despair what seemed like seconds earlier, seeing Sanctus' land, what he had thought to be, a solid blow her way. The demon king ran with the brightest smile. Releasing her hand, Claire stepped back in time to let Sparda gather her in the rightful embrace of his arms and give her a quick spin. He kissed her multiple times before sufficing to just hold her tight. He happened to glance over at Claire as she watched them both with a smile.

"You saved her."

Only nodding, Claire turned back to face Sanctus, who was slowly gathering himself again and reaching his feet. With no warning, he randomly turned and fired at some of the people. They panicked and attempted to run, only finding it was unnecessary. One minute she was beside Sparda and Eva, and the next she had appeared before the blast and effortlessly swatted it upward, yet again. The move had her using her wings for the first time, as she was floating ever so gracefully just a few feet off the ground. As if they were just decoration, and yet doing their job, the wings didn't need to be moving for her to stay suspended in the air. Touching down and turning she looked over the group of people gaping up at her in wonder.

"Are you all okay?" she smiled, hoping that would calm them down.

She was well aware of the shock she was causing. As she would come to tell later, there was a time she had to go through the same things they were all experiencing. Some managed a nod and others made small sounds. She frowned, and turned back in time to see the demon turn his eyes on a target much closer to him. Dante had ran out to attack Sanctus apart from the group before the spikes had pinned him down. The others had tried to get to him but were stopped a ways away with the same attack. Now, Vergil was still on his knees, trying to take in everything, Andrew had gotten up but hadn't moved far from Vergil and Eva and Sparda were a ways away from all of them. However, Sanctus and Dante were still very close together. She saw it in his eyes and acted before he could even take his next breathe. Dante jumped at the sudden sight of Claire before him. Sanctus had tried to attack in the second it took her to get there. So now, he found himself a couple yards away from Claire's outstretched arm and open hand, aimed at his face to cast any attack necessary to keep Dante safe. He broke in a cold sweat, just seeing her eyes boring into his. If that wasn't enough, being so close to her presence started to wage hell on his nerves.

Claire was down on one knee before Dante, all he could see was her wings and the bright light she was emitting. He looked down in surprise when she brought a hand back and placed it on top of his leg, as if she were reassuring him everything was going to be okay. The simple touch sent waves of euphoria through him.

**"I will protect everyone."**

Sanctus stumbled backwards in growing anxiety, suddenly wanting to be anywhere else. She stood up and started walking.

"What you've done to this family is inexcusable. The years they've lost because of you…"

She held up her hand. The energy around her started to flow and concentrate to that hand.

"I'm only here to send you off, Sanctus. God will deal with you."

He attempted to run, and got maybe half a football field away, before Claire fully charged and released her attack, still walking after him in the process. Sensing it, the demon whirled around on his heels and could only brace for impact. He placed his hands together and put up a quick barrier. It shattered immediately, allowing the full extent of her powers to reach him. They crashed into him, sending him shooting backwards. His body was slowly tore up and burned and he experienced, as Claire intended, all the pain he had ever caused to Sparda's family, at once. She gave her attack a final burst and her energy fully consumed him. Sensing there was nothing left, and hearing his screams echo into silence, she brought her attack down and drew her hand back, stopping the flow.

"He's…dead," Sparda looked at where Sanctus had been, then back to Claire in shock. "So easily…"

"He's finally dead," Andrew let out a long sigh and fell to his knees in relief, continuing to hold his disbelieving eyes on Claire. "…like it was nothing…she did it…unbelievable."

She slowly turned and laid eyes on Dante. He stared up at her. In his eyes and on his face she saw confusion and shock war with relief and longing. With the threat over…**finally over**…she could let her guard down, she could breathe and relax her heart, she could see her family and friends again, she could go back to living something as close to a normal life as she could make of it. But right now, she could finally…just cry.

She had put on a strong front; she had no choice. With the awakening of her true abilities, she needed to focus her mind and heart. The only thing that mattered was ridding the world of Sanctus and keeping anyone from dying. If she let herself get scared or her mind wander, she would be jeopardizing all of that.

The tears came down quickly, and rightfully so. It was like a dam bursting; she had held them back far too long. She didn't sob. In fact, no noise escaped her. Her eyes turned a paradox of sad and relieved. It was incredible, the feelings everyone experienced at seeing such a breathtaking being cry. They appeared to share in her sadness. They were overwhelmed when the tears came to their eyes.

"Oh, Claire," Eva wiped her eyes and put her head to Sparda's chest as he continued to hold her.

Dante felt his own fall but didn't bother messing with them. Finding his will to move again he got to his feet, though poorly at first. He let out a quick breath, gathering himself on two feet again. Seeing him up, she squeezed her eyes shut as the emotions in her heart continued to grow. Opening her eyes she put her hand over her mouth; if this kept up her heart would burst with joy.

"Claire," he said her name, as if testing it.

Like answering a question, she nodded slowly. Their eyes never left the others.

"…Dante."

It was like a trigger. Hearing her speak his name sent a jolt up his spine and shot his body into action. He shot across their gap and she opened her arms to him. All she caught was the bright smile that came back to his face before he clasped his strong arms around her. She was lifted off her feet as he spun her just once and slowly brought her back down. Her arms came undone from around his neck and slowly fell down upon his chest. Opening his eyes, he took in so many things. The feeling she gave him this close was amazing. He felt so calm and at peace with himself. This new atmosphere she brought with her was astounding. Looking down, he was in awe of the majesty of her wings. It surprised him that they weren't made of feathers, like the legends said. Instead, they were flowing with her energy and magic, a physical embodiment. He wanted to see her eyes. He wanted to make sure she was truly alive. The feelings he felt were not fake…but there was just something about seeing the life of her heart-stopping eyes. He needed to see them. She felt him pulling back slowly and she followed. His heart skipped finally seeing her up close. Everything about her had been magnified when her true form came alive. Her powers had sky rocketed, her voice was like bells…and now her beauty. His mouth hung slightly and he brought a shaky hand up and touched her face. She watched him intently, taking in everything he did. His hand brought her hair back behind her ear before sliding slowly down her face and resting on her neck.

"This is real…right?"

She swallowed hard and gave a nod.

"You're really here…you're alive?"

She gripped his shirt, and the tables turned, as it was her senses going into overdrive just having him hold her again.

"I'm here. I love you," she searched his eyes, her heart continued to beat faster.

He reached down and took one of her hands, intertwining their fingers together and moved his free arm around to embrace her lower back.

"I can't believe you're an angel…"

"Half."

He blinked.

"It's a long story," she started to stroke his cheek. "But I'm a half-angel."

"Half?" he questioned with a raised brow. "How do you know? Is that even possible?"

She giggled and it shot a wave up his spine.

"I'll tell you later," she smiled as her hand left his face and found his back again.

When the silence came back, both knew exactly what to fill it with. Keeping their hands together, he gripped her waist and pulled her up eagerly. Her feet left the ground again as their lips met. She sighed into the kiss as he used his arm to pull her closer. Still wanting more, he released her hand and directed her face to match the angle he desired. Her freed hand flew to his back where both were now gripping his shirt. He bent down and put her back on the ground before he broke the kiss.

"Woah," he whispered.

Both were blushing after the magnitude of love passed through the kiss.

"This **is** real," his smile grew.

Her tint grew but she released a magical laugh into the air and pressed herself close to him again.

"Claire!"  
She jumped to the shout and turned to see her parents rushing out to her. After Dante had approached her, it was enough to get them snapped from their trance. It also helped prove that she was real, alive, and they weren't hallucinating.

"Mom, Dad!" her face lit up.

Like everyone else, they wanted to be still and just stare. The incredulous notion that an actual **angel** was before them…and that it was **their** **daughter**, was making them constantly wonder when they would wake up. Dante's realization of reality was shared with them, when Claire opened her arms and took them both close. Her head fell between where their shoulders met, as they each had a hold on either side of her.

"I've missed you," she smiled through her tears.

They looked to each other in amazement at the reality their daughter was an angel, then at her wings, and then back at each other. She pulled back, sensing a little of their astonishment and gave them both a smile.

"I would have told you had I known myself," she gave them an impish smile. "If that's what you're worried about?"

Their faces softened immediately, and the tears came back, as they combined their strength and finally tucked her close. Sandwiched between them, she let out another joyous laugh as they continually squeezed her more as if they feared letting go meant she would disappear. They managed to maneuver around her wings quite well, Claire mused, and were finally staring at them in shock. They didn't get to voice any questions, as Claire pulled away from them and ran over to her three friends. Sarah had the least amount of restraint and immediately hugged her without hesitation. That was just Sarah; jumping in without question. Madison latched on to the hug thankful somebody had broken the ice.

"This is madness," Sarah then exclaimed. "Demons, angels…and it's all real!" she pulled back. "Claire!"

The half-angel laughed as her friend shook her, trying to grasp everything. The laughter faded and she finally latched eyes with Jordan, who was still standing back watching.

"Not a dream, huh?" Jordan took a couple steps towards her friend.

Claire couldn't read her; was she upset (wouldn't be a surprise), confused…what was it?

"Cause I'm ready to wake up anytime now."

A slight undercurrent of frustration snuck in that time.

"Jor—"

"Never a dull moment with you, is there?"

She was only putting up a strong front. Cause that was Jordan. No sooner did the question leave her than did she start tearing up.

"You idiot," she then put her head down and closed the distance with a hug, startling Claire, who thought she couldn't get surprised anymore after what she had been through and had become.

"I'm so glad you're alive! You idiot! Do you know how much stress is involved in being your friend?"

The best answer she could give Jordan, she knew, was no answer at all, verbally. Just embracing her back was good. Glancing past her friend's shoulder, she saw Michael and the guys surrounding Dante, giving him hugs and pats on the shoulder. She smiled when Michael looked her way and gave a nod, like he was just seeing her on another casual visit. She liked that. With all the shock and astonishment being sent her way at the moment she enjoyed the small window of "normal." There came a moment when Jordan released her, that she finally noticed Vergil was gone. It didn't shock her. She couldn't imagine how upside down his world must have been at the moment. Being under somebody else's control to tear apart your own family; death being the ultimatum of Sanctus desire of Vergil. She prayed he would come back. She would give him time.

Following that moment, she became very much aware, adrenaline gone, how **tired** she was. A quick wave had came over her, with nothing distracting her anymore. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. To the amazement of her friends and family, as well as the growing crowds that had come when the barrier went down, drawn by the commotion of the fight…her wings dispelled. They burst into small orbs of white light, and drifted away like cotton in the wind. Finally, her otherworldly glow faded out and she closed her eyes.

Her small frame began to fall, though she kept a blissful smile on her face. Claire would never be afraid to fall; he would always catch her. When the arms she knew were coming caught her swiftly, she let out an even longer breath as she was lowered to the ground. Dante would have been worried and he would have called out her name in fear, if not for the smile on her lips.

"I'm gonna need some rest now…that sounds really good," she said softly.

Everyone had formed a circle around her, and when she slightly opened her eyes, she felt overwhelmed with love at knowing she had such a support group with her…and that she hadn't let them down.

"Rest all you want," Dante kissed her forehead. "We'll wait for you."

They were all smiling now. Her thank you was soft. They barely heard her. When sleep finally graced her soul, a single joyous tear fell from her face.

The world was safe again.

**2:33 A.M. Memorial Day Monday, May 27th**


	45. Together

**I'm going back to school! Yay! In Florida! Yay! For golf! Yay! Anyway, that's why it's been a while. Hope this will do for now. I wanted to add a little more but felt you guys beyond deserved at least SOMETHING. **

**TO ANSWER THE BIG QUESTION! We are FAR FROM OVER HERE FOLKS! A lot of you wanted to know if there was a sequel to this. Yes, there most definitely is. I won't start a new story, it will all be done on this one. **

**I hope to get back to the emails and reviews shortly. Thank you guys for getting in touch with me about this story!**

Setting a new record, to everyone's amazement, it only took Claire 'til noon the next day to stir. Everyone had gathered around her bed in the guest room moments earlier. They wanted to be there when she awoke. Everyone had slept well the night before, most in part to Claire's new found abilities putting their emotions at ease before she slipped into slumber, after bringing her safely back to the house. For good measure, Sparda and Andrew combined their efforts into a barrier that literally made their house invisible to the untrained eye. With all that happened, the outside world, and the media, was a buzz. Their privacy would be an issue in the coming months after this massive fallout, they knew. But right now, peace and quiet was imperative as they all gathered themselves and reflected on everything that had happened.

"Claire," Dante put a hand to her forehead when she made a sound.

Her parents shuffled closer to her on the bed, her father putting a hand to her shoulder and her mom reached over and took her hand. She opened her eyes slowly, focusing on nothing. Shutting them for a second, she stretched out her body. Everybody was smiling; relief was abound that she seemed to be fine. Her eyes fully came alive to take in the large group before her. She laughed and brought the covers up over her head, breaking away from her parents touch.

"Creeeeeeeeepers," came her voice.

Everyone burst into laughter.

"So how long have I been out this time?" she stayed under the sheets.

"Less than a day," Dante said with amusement. "We're proud of you."

She removed the covers and gave him a look.

"Funny guy," she reached over and ruffled his hair. "Bet I look terrible…so glad you're all here to enjoy my bedhead."

Dante fixed his hair before reaching over and taking her hand.

"Actually you're quite wrong," Sparda smiled. "You look beautiful."

She blushed at how seriously he said it and turned back to Dante who nodded, "It's true."

"You're always beautiful," her dad put a hand on her shoulder. "Always."

Her mom simply nodded with damp eyes, and Claire smiled back, "It's over…right?" she looked back at Sparda.

"Almost."

Her question was more of a formality; she expected a yes.

"Long story short, now that Sanctus is gone and—"

"Vergil," she interrupted. "…has he...is he okay? Has he come back?"

Dante slid his hand down her arm then tucked a few strands behind her head, "Not yet."

"We'll give it more time," Claire responded, looking down. "I have faith in him."

Eva and Sparda smiled to each other.

"We do too," said Eva.

"Like I said," Sparda continued. "Now that your barrier is gone and Sanctus as well, we need to make sure all the places where demons were summoned are properly and completely sealed. Your barrier was serving as a temporary seal. The energy was enough to keep them closed."

"Demons are still coming up here!" she exclaimed and started to get up.

The combined efforts of Dante and James pushed her back down.

"Why am I the only one freaking out here?" she shot eyes to everyone, and saw nothing but calm expressions.

"Cause there's no danger right now. The full effects of that barrier are still up. You should know…you made it powerful enough," Sparda hinted at her stubbornness when she almost died that day.

She hung her head a little, "Got it."

More laughter was shared.

"We'll know when and where a little before they open. You'll sense it too," he said. "Shouldn't be too hard. It can only open one place at a time, but each will need to be taken care of to permanently take care of the problem. I don't know how many times Vergil and Sanctus opened them or how many placed they were opened…could be a lot. Feel up to helping us seal them off for good?"

She blinked. It was the first time she was actually **asked** to help fight demons off. Like she needed assurance, she turned to her boyfriend in question.

"Yes," he read her easily. "I'm fine with you helping. You've proven you can kick some serious a—"

The hand that was bound to come, shot over his mouth immediately. Ah…he really loved this girl.

"Got it," she smiled. "Thank you, Dante."

"Has you under complete control, eh?" Keegan smiled.

Dante shot his friend a look.

"For the most part," Claire took her hand and directed her boyfriend's face back to her. "But I wouldn't say complete, Keegan."

The guys smiled knowingly and Dante rose a brow with a crooked grin at the girl.

"Nobody can control this guy completely," she reached down and held one of his hands. "Trust me."

"We know it," Michael started. "Oh boy do we know it."

In the silence that followed, Claire's eyes wandered to the balcony and she gasped.

"You fixed the windows?"

She was referring to the shockwave from Sanctus that burst every window in the mansion-like estate.

"Hey," Sparda smiled. "You don't live almost a thousand years without forming some connections."

Her mouth hung a moment and slowly shut, her eyes studying the full demon.

"I guess…Sparda you're such a mystery man."

"Claire."

Her mother's soft tone made her turn in question only to practically scream in surprise. In Karen's lap, who she just picked up from the ground, was Samson.

"What happened to him?"

Carefully reaching over and taking her cat, she looked down at his bandage wrapped torso and right paw.

"Must have got hurt when the windows blew out," Andrew finally spoke up. "Good thing you took care of Sanctus in a timely manner. He wasn't in such good shape when we got back."

"Oh Sammie," Claire bent over the cat in a hug, who was now purring with closed eyes, happy to be back with his mom. "You poor thing."

Sitting back up she wiped a small tear and gently pet the injured feline, "Thank you guys for taking care of him."

"Of course," Eva smiled. "Glad we got to him in time."

They decided to retire to the patio to regroup, relax, and talk about everything that had happened. Everybody had questions for everybody, but mainly for Claire. When the last person left the room, it was just Dante and Claire. She smiled and gently placed Samson down on one of the pillows, where he gingerly rolled into a ball and went into nap mode. She reached up to Dante and he grasped her forearms and pulled her up into a hug. She exhaled and placed her head to his chest, her arms gripping his shirt at his back, not unlike she had when they were finally reunited yesterday after Sanctus' death. His strong arms wrapped around the top of her waist.

"I can't believe your dad let me stay with you alone…even if it is just for a couple minutes."

She laughed and squeezed him harder.

"We're finally alone," she started. "After everything that's happened..."

She pulled back enough to look up at him.

"…and that's the first thing you say."

He smiled down at her, taking in all the magnifications of her beauty since her awakening.

"It's not what I could say that I've been anticipating," he smiled more.

"I see," she reached a hand up and tangled it through his otherworldly soft hair. "Better be PG…my dad could be watching…or listening."

Despite joking about it, Dante couldn't help but stifle a nervous shudder that in reality…that very well could be the case. Pushing it to the back of his mind he kissed her to his heart's content. His hands held her shoulders, then her face, then massaged her neck as they shared one after the other. When the final one passed between them, they broke with rapid heart beats and stared with love at one another.

"Much better than what you could say, I guess," she reached up and stroked the side of his face.

Her smile left her, though, when his countenance suddenly changed. He brought a hand up and mirrored her actions, running his from the top of her head down to hold her cheek.

"Claire…I don't mean to ruin the moment…"

She noticed he had a lot to say, but seemed to really be struggling in either figuring how or just actually saying it.

"What's wrong?" she was now cupping his face, searching his eyes.

His hands moved to hold her wrists; she kept a hold of his face.

"I let you get seriously hurt back there…"

"Oh Dante it's—"

"No," he cut her off quickly and she could feel him squeeze her wrists a little more. "No, Claire. It's definitely not okay. You almost died."

She bit her lip, knowing what next would only make him feel terrible…but it had to be said. Everybody had to know the truth eventually.

"I'm gonna say something," she started, removing her hands, shaking off his grip. "And you're not gonna like it."

He rose a brow in confusion. Catching him off guard for once, she pushed him back where he stumbled and fell onto the bed. Then, she crawled over and sat on her knees before him, taking both his hands in hers and holding them on the sheets in between them.

"Dante," she started in a whisper.

He gathered himself after the push and squeezed their intertwined hands in confusion and a little bit of anxiety at how her face grew rather tense.

"I did die."

He paused, his brows furrowed, surprised by the statement but also unsure at what she meant.

"Back when Sanctus pierced me through, I died."

"How could you have…you're alive, Claire," he searched her eyes.

She merely stared at him as her mind thought about all that she had experienced, pertaining to that question. In the moments after her temporary death, she gained all the answers she was ever seeking about herself and her purpose. The half-angel decided it was best to tell it to all of them together. She backed up off the bed and stood, pulling their joined hands until he was standing with her. Reaching up, she brought his face down and surprised him with a gentle, loving kiss. Letting it linger a few seconds, she broke and put a hand to his face.

"Claire?"

"Let's rejoin the others. To all of you, I'll tell you everything."

**Like I said, we are far from over with this story! I have so much more to write it's cRaZy!**

**Monday, July 29****th****, 2013 1:14 A.M.**


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